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Tapestry: Caius Marius at the Cimbri Camp, a fragment from THE STORY OF PENELOPE AND THE STORY OF THE CIMBRI WOMEN (from the series THE STORIES OF VIRTUOUS WOMEN)
French or Franco-Flemish
about 1480–83
Object Place: France or the Franco Flemish Territories
Medium/Technique
Tapestry weave (wool warp; wool wefts)
Dimensions
130 x 173 cm (51 3/16 x 68 1/8 in.) (detail shown)
Credit Line
Maria Antoinette Evans Fund
Accession Number26.56
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
DescriptionThis fragment depicts the Roman General, Caius Marious, mounted on his white horse receiving the pleas of the Cimbri woman. The words CAIUS MARIUS LIBERATOR URBIS are woven in his bridle rein. Two heraldic shields supported by birds in upper part. Part of seventh tapestry of set bearing arms of Ferry de Clugny.
ProvenanceAbout 1480/1483, Cardinal Ferry de Clugny (b. 1410 - d. 1483), Autun, Burgundy [see note 1]; 1483, upon his death, to his nephew, Guillaume de Clugny; to his son, Louis de Clugny and his wife, Marie de Chaugy; passed within her family to Claude-Augustine Chaugny and her husband, Pierre Le Belin, Dijon; to their son, Jean-Jacques Le Belin (b. 1645 – d. 1710), Dijon; bequeathed by Belin to Francois Guyet (b. 1663 – d. 1736) and his wife, Claudine Quarré (b. 1662 – d. 1749), Lyon [see note 2]; to their daughter, Philibert Guyet, Comtesse de Chamillart; 1750, sold by the Comtesse de Chamillart to Charles-Antoine, Marquis de Clugny (b. 1700 – d. 1779), Chateau de Thenissey, Côte-d'Or, France; to his son, Francois Victor de Clugny (d. 1782), Chateau de Thenissey; to his son, Charles-Louis de Clugny (d. 1793) and his wife, Marie Charlotte Alexandrine de Lannoy (b. 1761 – d. 1816), Chateau de Thenissey; about 1791, after a fire at Chateau de Thenissey, removed and taken to Chateau de Jours-les-Baigneux; 1793, confiscated and sold at auction, probably as national property [see note 3]; returned to or reacquired by Marie Charlotte Alexandrine de Lannoy and her second husband, Joseph Guy Louis Dominique de Tulles, Marquis de Villefranche (b. 1768 – d. 1847), Chateau de Thenissey [see note 4]; until 1926, by descent within the family, Chateau de Thenissey; 1926, sold from the collection of the Comte de Marenches to the MFA for $45,000. (Accession Date: March 4, 1926)
NOTES:
[1] This is one in a series of ten tapestries commissioned by Ferry de Clugny; damaged in a fire during the 18th century, eight fragments remain and are now at the MFA (accession nos. 26.53 – 26.60). On their early history, see Vicomte L. de Varax, Les Tapisseries du Cardinal de Clugny (Lyon, 1926) and Jean-Bernard de Vaivre, “Aspects du mécénat des Clugny au XV siècle,” Comtes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 152, no. 2 (2008): pp. 532-533.
[2] According to Varax 1926 (as above, note 1), Guyet was Jean-Jacques Le Belin’s son-in-law.
[3] Achille Joubinal, “Tapisseries,” in Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance: Histoire et Description, vol. 2 (Paris, 1849), VII. The Chateau des Jours-les-Baigneux was nationalized during the French Revolution.
[4] The tapestries were at the Chateau de Thenissey again in the nineteenth century, and remained there until the time they were sold.
NOTES:
[1] This is one in a series of ten tapestries commissioned by Ferry de Clugny; damaged in a fire during the 18th century, eight fragments remain and are now at the MFA (accession nos. 26.53 – 26.60). On their early history, see Vicomte L. de Varax, Les Tapisseries du Cardinal de Clugny (Lyon, 1926) and Jean-Bernard de Vaivre, “Aspects du mécénat des Clugny au XV siècle,” Comtes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 152, no. 2 (2008): pp. 532-533.
[2] According to Varax 1926 (as above, note 1), Guyet was Jean-Jacques Le Belin’s son-in-law.
[3] Achille Joubinal, “Tapisseries,” in Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance: Histoire et Description, vol. 2 (Paris, 1849), VII. The Chateau des Jours-les-Baigneux was nationalized during the French Revolution.
[4] The tapestries were at the Chateau de Thenissey again in the nineteenth century, and remained there until the time they were sold.