Page 36 - Jordaens

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(Fig. 7). The visit to the Southern Netherlands
of the cultivated prince (1595-1648), who became
Wladislav IV Vasa when elected king in 1632,

received great publicity; he was much honoured
by the Archduchess Isabella, then Governor of the
Netherlands, who commissioned Rubens to paint
36
his portrait. But this proposal too must remain
hypothetical as no details about the commission are

known. More fully documented is the legal dispute
that arose following Geubels’s failure to deliver the
tapestry set as promised in 1626. There is no record
of the set’s existence in Poland and quite possibly it
was never completed, let alone delivered. Thus if
Duverger’s proposal is put aside, it has to be admitted
Fig. 6. Jacob Geubels after Jordaens. Tapestry from the series that like much of Jordaens’ early work, the identity
Scenes from Country Life.
of the patron of the Story of Odysseus - the dealer or Fig. 7. Jordaens, ‘Circe transforming Ulysses’ men into swine, tapestry, Fig. 8. Van der Strecken and Van Leefdael after Jordaens,
weaver who commissioned it - remains unknown; indeed only two sets are extant, one partial and woven by an Rome, Palazzo del Quirinale. Ulysses at the House of Circe, tapestry. Rome. Palazzo del
anonymous shop the other from the Van der Strecken and Van Leefdael looms and acquired by Carlo Emanuele Quirinale.

(Fig. 8). We presume that the commission must have come sometime, perhaps through his growing reputation was talked about before it became internationally known through Theodoor van Thulden’s engravings, published
and his claims as a waterschilder who had perhaps assisted Rubens c. 1625-27 in the preparation of the Decius Mus in 1633. Jordaens did not have to read Greek to know the epic, for it had been translated into Dutch in the
tapestries. In this respect, too, is relevant the supposed policy of the Archducal couple, Albert and Isabella, 1560s. He would be catering for the tastes of a highly educated audience by selecting evocative incidents in the
after the declaration of the Twelve Years Truce in the war against the United Provinces in 1609, to stimulate myth, which he could illustrate in a dramatic and comprehensible manner. As it turned out, not all the subjects
the enterprise of the Brussels tapissiers in seeking out new tapestry designers. he chose seem to have been included in the series, for there are adventures concerning Odysseus depicted by

Jordaens for which no tapestries are known. 37
In fact the subject settled on for Jordaens was not novel, for it had been well rehearsed in tapestry before:
Homer’s Odyssey was the subject of a popular series woven in Brussels and designed by Michiel Coxcie (1499-
1592). Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus (1523-1605) designed another and, perhaps, the hugely ambitious 37. Scenes of which no tapestries are extant are Odysseus in the Cave of Polyphemus (see the finished painting reproduced here as
and spectacular decoration at Fontainebleau of the long destroyed Galerie d’Ulysse by Primaticcio (1504-1570) Fig.4) and Odysseus and Nausicaa for which the J.L Baroni Gallery recently had a cartoon 117.5 x 194 cm which is now in a
private French collection. For this cartoon see J.-L.Baroni, Jacob Jordaens, Odysseus and Nausicaa, 2012, and K.Nelson, ‘Jacob
Jordaens: Designs for Tapestry’, Pictura Nova, V, 1998, p.79, no.12a. A slightly smaller cartoon measuring 96 x 194.5 cm
35. E Duverger, ‘Une Teinture de L’Histoire d’Ulysse livrée par Jacques Geubels le Jeune au Prince de Pologne’, Artes Textiles, was with The Matthiesen Gallery, London in 1985 and is now in a private collection (Fig. 9 overleaf). The two compositions
1971, VII, pp. 74 ff. were very similar though the latter version was slightly sketchier and the sky was different. See K. Nelson, ‘Jacob Jordaens:
36. H.Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, XIX, Portraits, II, Antwerp Identified Sitters, 1987, pp. 123-124, no. 113. Design for Tapestry’ (Pictura Nova, V), 1998, nos. 7a-b and 12a-b.

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