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Tapestry: Ulysses Homeward Bound, 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
144.8 x 21.6 cm (57 x 8.5 in.)
Credit Line
Maria Antoinette Evans Fund
Accession Number26.53
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
DescriptionIn the center foreground, a richly dressed man stands on the bow of a sailing vessel. He is identified as Ulysses by the scarf across his breast inscribed with FACVDVS VLIXES ("Resourceful Ulysses). He holds a pole in his right hand and rests his left hand on the shoulder of a leopard. Behind him, at the left, two sailors sound trumpets; two others handle rigging lines at the right.
NOTE: it is believed that the armorial shields represented in this set of tapestries refer to the families allied with that of Ferry de Clugny.
NOTE: it is believed that the armorial shields represented in this set of tapestries refer to the families allied with that 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,” Comptes 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), pp. VIII. 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,” Comptes 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), pp. VIII. 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.