An Important gold and silver metal thread Armorial tapestry, with the coat-arms of Ambrogio Spinola, Brussels, from the workshop of Martin Reymbouts, after cartoons by Jan Snellinck the Elder 1605-1619

the arms with a coronet and encircled by the Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece enclosed by interlaced strapwork in gold and silver thread, the arms supported by four winged children, two above with palm fronds and two below blowing trumpets as allegories of Fame and Victory, holding on to red ribbon attached to the Collar, on a pale blue ground, top border of martial trophies only, wool and silk and gold and silver thread, lacking three borders

The Armorial Tapestries of Ambrogio Spinola

Foreword by Professor Guy Delmarcel

During the "Ancien Régime", before the French Revolution, tapestry was almost exclusively directed towards nobility, as the main purchaser of this art form. No other artistic medium could better reflect the desire of noblemen for showing their identity and power, reflected and confirmed by their arms. The great mobility of weavings, which could easily be folded, unfolded and hung everywhere, enabled the display of the arms of the Lords anywhere and very quickly.

Armorials were apparently always ordered in great quantities. To cite just a few examples: Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, possessed twenty-five armorials on a total amount of 108 tapestries in her collection in 1523, and the contemporary cardinal Erard de la Marck, Prince-Bishop of Liège, displayed no less than forty-one armorials of his collection of one-hundred and ninety one weavings in his castle at Huy in 1532. The Spanish weaver Pedro Gutierrez delivered in 1598 twenty-four identical "reposteros" (armorials in Spanish) for the Duke of Feria, and William and Mary ordered at least two sets of eight identical pieces to several Brussels weavers between 1695 and 1700. Although many of such weavings disappeared through the ages, even nowadays no less than four types of tapestries with the arms of King Sigismund II August (middle 16th century), for a total of up to thirty-six pieces, are on display at the Wawel Castle in Cracow, and dozens of Medici armorials (end 16th century) are still preserved at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.

The cost of producing armorials was higher than for other series. The models and then the life-size cartoons had to be designed to measure, taking into account that the specific heraldry had to be inverted on the cartoon for the weaving in low warp loom, as was usual in Flanders. These cartoons could not be re-used again by the weaver for another customer, as could be done for other series with for example Biblical or Historical themes. Armorials were displayed in large numbers in castles and palaces. They were frequently used as "portières" or door tapestries, hanging in the doorways back to back, or on balconies during pageants or religious processions.

Such armorials were particularly favoured among the Spanish nobility, as far as we can infer from the still existing examples. It is not surprising that Ambrogio Spinola, as Chief Commander of the Spanish troops in the Netherlands, also wanted such woven symbols of his brilliant career for his palace in his homeland Genoa, after his victory on the siege of Ostend in 1604 and after his nomination as Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1605.

These armorials were produced in the Brussels workshop of Martin II Reymbouts, whose monogram appears in the selvedge of one of these weavings. Succeeding to his father, Martin I, he was already active before 1576, as in that year some of his tapestries were stolen and endamaged in the Antwerp "Tapissierspand" (Tapestry Hall) during the Spanish Fury. In 1578, the Bishop of Chartres presented to his cathedral a series of the Life of Moses, signed by Reymbouts and still preserved in part there. He was one of the most important weavers in Brussels at the beginning of the 17th century, belonging to the group of the nine major manufacturers who signed in 1613 a petition for exemption from excise duties. Nine firms in Brussels claimed they had provided work to more than six hundred people and some had trading links through Antwerp. These `tapestry merchants’ also claimed that they had respectively commissioned many new cartoons. They claimed a high reputation for the Brussels industry `Seeing that this noble art is useful an indispensable for all lords, princes and potentates of the world, and that the tapestries made in this city since living memory have, in the opinion of impartial judges and lovers of art, always had and maintained their value above all others’. He died at the end of 1618.

The very rich weaving of the Spinola Armorials, with extensive use of silver and gold threads, is quite exceptional in this period. Such material wealth in textile became uncommon after the fall of Antwerp in 1585 and after the death of King Philip II of Spain in 1598. A close parallel for the design as well as for the use of materials can be found in a contemporary series which was also woven by Reymbouts, namely the seven tapestries commemorating the Military Victories of Archduke Albert, still preserved today in the Royal Spanish Collections.1

On 3rd November 1597, Reymbouts received the order from the Antwerp City Council to weave this lavish set, with a preponderence of gold and silver, which the city presented to the Archduke at his Joyous Entry in 1599. The models were provided by Otto Vaenius (van Veen), the cartoons were painted by Jan Snellinck the Elder. The Madrid set is also ornamented with borders full of military implements, in the same strain as the Spinola Arms. Later on, Reymbouts became an important provider of tapestries for the Archdukes Albert and Isabella at the Brussels court, who commissioned and bought many sets from him, such as the Triumphs of Petrarch (1609), several editions of Vertumnus and Pomona (1611 and 1614) and eight pieces of the Siege of Troy (1615). It is therefore not surprising that Spinola, who was greatly appreciated as a military commander by the Archdukes in Brussels, went to the manufactory of Reymbouts for his tapestries.

The design of these armorials refers to the art of Flanders around 1600. The background of strapwork belongs to the traditional ornament of the Antwerp school, as it was conceived by Cornelis Floris (Compendium published in Antwerp in 1556 Veelderleij Veranderinghe van Grotissen ende Compertimenten with multiple variations of grotesques and compartments) and others from 1548 onwards. Curiously enough, a very similar surrounding of strapwork appears on other contemporary armorials with Spanish arms. They are commonly attributed to Spanish workshops, but this remains very hypothetical.2 One could presume that they were woven in Flanders as well.

The lavish four angels, sustaining the coat of arms in the single tapestry, belong to the late Renaissance style of Flemish painting. The somewhat manneristic aspect of these figures points to Otto Vaenius (1556-1629), the designer of the former Victories series and Rubens’ teacher before he left for the peninsula in 1600. They remind us the geniuses in Vaenius’s Emblemata Amoris, a very successful emblem book written and designed by him and published in 1608. From 1612 onwards, Vaenius moved from Antwerp to Brussels, as he was closely envolved in commissions for the Brussels court. However other designers could have been involved with these figures. Of particular interest is the art of Hendrik van Balen (1575-1632). Between 1604 and 1618, he painted eight canvases with the Life of the Holy Family for the Saint Salvators’ church in Ghent, which were paid by the Archdukes. The last painting for this cycle shows the coat of arms of the Archdukes, held by two angels whose faces and proportions can easily be compared with those of the Spinola Arms.3 Without further study of the art collections and patronage of Ambrogio Spinola and his family, further comments about the designer cannot be made.

As stated above, the borders with military implements were particularly well adapted for a victorious military commander as Spinola, and they refer to the Military Victories of archduke Albert as their very probable model. They go back to the "all’antica " trophies used in Flemish tapestry borders for the first time in the Fructus Belli, a series woven between 1546 and 1549 for Ferrante Gonzaga, Lord of Guastalla and chief commander of the Imperial troops of Charles V. The cartoons of this set later went to Martin Reymbouts, who put them back on the looms. One of these re-editions, with a similar trophy border but now lost, came into the possession of king Philip IV of Spain and was presented to cardinal Mazarin in 1659.4 The Reymbouts workshop was thus well acquainted with this appropriate ornament.

The tapestries can be dated between 1605, when Spinola received the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the end of 1618 when Martin Reymbouts died. The question remains as to when Spinola ordered this expensive series, undoubtedly consisting of more than these three weavings presented here. From1611 on, and probably earlier, he was in continuous financial trouble because he had to advance money for the wages of his troops, as the payments from Madrid were highly irregular.5 The order for these armorials, their artistic design and their weaving, has thus very probably been given short after 1605. They witness the great technical ability of the Brussels manufacturers, keeping alive the great tradition of the Renaissance, as well as the art in Flanders just before Rubens’ return from Italy (1608). This greatest genius of Flemish baroque painting will then become a close and personal friend of Spinola, whose portrait he executed several times.

i. Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional , series nr. 46; see M. de Maeyer, ‘Otto Venius en de tapijtenreeks De Veldslagen van aartshertog Albrecht’, Artes Textiles , II, 1955, p. 105-111

ii. See auction Sotheby’s London, 30 May 1997, lot 9, and Anna Bennett, Five Centuries of Tapestry, San Francisco, 1992, nr.37 – this author remains quite adamant about the place and date of weaving.

iii. See exhibition catalogue Albrecht & Isabella 1598- 1621, Brussels, Royal Museums of Art & History, 1998, p. 61, nr; 61.

iv. Clifford M. Brown & Guy Delmarcel , Tapestries for the Courts of Federico II, Ercole and Ferrante Gonzaga . 1522- 1563 , Seattle -London, 1996, p. 167 and 171

v. Already in 1606, Spinola had to give personal guarantee for a loan of 2.260.000 escudos by the Spanish king. When he left Brussels for Madrid, in March 1611, the nuntius Guido Bentivoglio wrote that Spinola was almost bankrupt. See Antonio Rodriguez Villa, Ambrosio Spinola, primer marqués de los Balbases, Madrid, 1904, p. 135 and 277.

Comparable Armorial Tapestries

The inclusion as a surround of strapwork (`scroll-work’) is a distinct feature of Antwerp design in around 1545, introduced by Cornelis Floris and published in Antwerp in 1556 in his compendium Veelderleij Veranderinghe van Grotissen ende Compertimenten (Multiple variations of grotesques and compartments). It became a recurring motif in Flemish tapestries, both in the picture plane and in the border. See Guy Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestries, London, 1999, pp.196-198, figs.6.1-6.5, for images of a set of late 16th century Enghien Tapestries which use the network of cast-iron inspired links and loops, and the set of five Oudenaarde tapestries of the Labours of Hercules, which appropriately have this wrought-iron scroll-work in the border (Delmarcel, op.cit. pp.203-207) which are also evident in the armorials discussed. This convex and concave network forms a large part of the design of the present armorials.

For two early 17th century armorial tapestries, both with strap-work surrounds to the coat-of-arms, and simple strapwork borders, see Sotheby’s London, 9th December 1988 and 30th May 1997. See also Anna G. Bennett, Five Centuries of Tapestry, nos.31 & 32 for similar Spanish armorial tapestries.

For the use of military trophies and impedimenta in the borders of armorial tapestries there are a number of Flemish pieces of the 17th century, for example a piece which probably included Portuguese arms, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 11th May 1985, lot 519 (see Fig 1), which also included two putti supporting the arms, and further arms supported by palms, and another armorial shield tapestry of this date was also included in this New York sale, including an elaborate swag of fruit, similar to that in the main Spinola armorial discussed, and includes four playing putti. See Jacqueline Boccaro, Le Mobilier Francais du Moyen Age, fig.101, for an armorial tapestry with a border of military trophies and impedimenta, and distinctive style of fruiting swags as above, and this piece is probably Antwerp late 16th century and Christie’s 10th December 1981 for a similar design which persisted through to the end of the 17th century.

Another tapestry, depicting the arms of the Visconti family of Milan, was produced in 1690, after David III Teniers and woven by Jerome Le Clerc, and reveals the running theme, though now more elaborately conceived, of the supporting swags, two putti and two trumpeting angels, and was offered at Sotheby’s Monaco, 21st February 1988, lot 636. (see Fig. 2)

Other Comparable Golden Fleece Tapestries

Sotheby’s Monaco, 21st February 1988 included an armorial tapestry, which is thought to have probably been Spanish in manufacture and late 16th century in date, with the arms of Philippe II, Philippe III and Philippe IV of Spain, reveal the coronet, collar and badge, with stylised scroll-work surround, without any putti.

Christie’s, New York, 11th January 1994, lot 206, sold a pair of late 17th century Brussels Armorial Tapestries, with the coat-of-arms including those of Castile and Leon, Aragon and the two Sicilies, within the Order of the Golden Fleece, suspended similarly from a coronet, with four similar putti, two holding palms, the others holding up the red and ermine lined material surround.

For a late 17th century, published Golden Fleece tapestry see Guy Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestries, London, 1999, p.236, for a tapestry of The Arms of Arneberg and Alcaretto, Brussels, after David III Teniers, from the workshop of Gerard Peemans, 1683-1684 which has the arms, collar, badge and coronet held by putti and an angel. An early 18th century Brussels Armorial, with The Arms of Leopold-Philippe-Charles, Duke and Prince of Arenberg, from the De Vos workshop, was offered at Christie’s Monte Carlo, 7th February 1982, and this shows the arms, collar and badge and coronet held by putti and holding attached ribbon bows and red surrounding material, and suspended by floral swags.

Order of the Golden Fleece in relation to the Spinola Family

Ambrogio Spinola, First Marqués de los Balbases, from 17th June 1621, Marquis de Becerril de Campos, created a Grandee of Spain 17th December 1621. Duque de Sesto and Marqués de Venafro, Principe de Serravale. Born Genoa 1569, died Castello di Encisa, Monferrato, a few days before 17th September 1630. Son of Filippo Spinola, Patrician of Genoa by his wife Polixena Grimaldi. He was one of the most famous generals of the 17th century and started his military career at the siege of Ostende, that lasted three years and surrendered in September 1604, Field-Marshal General in command of nine-thousand men, reunited in Milan, created a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, receiving the Collar from the Archduke Albert in Brussels in 1605, he continued his military career fighting against the Dutch and took numerous cities and provinces. In 1620 he conquered the Palatine in a few days and in 1625 put siege to Breda, obtaining it after eleven months. This historical siege was immortalised by Velázquez in his famous painting `The Surrender of Breda’ (See José Lopez-Rey, Velázquez, catalogue raisonné, 1996, no.73, for the original in the Prado, painted 1634-35, entitled as Spinola receiving the keys of the fortress of Breda from the Dutch Governor-General Justinus of Nassau, 5th June 1625). A member of the Council of State and the Council of War of the King of Spain, Captain General of the Spanish Army and Vicar-General of Italy, Commander of the Order of Santiago in Leòn, Superintendant of the Royal Finance. First married in 1592 Donna Givanna Bacciadone, daughter of Giovanni Bacciadone, Lord of Tripalda, and Pelina Doria. Second marriage in Flanders in 1615 Marie de Lorraine-Aumale, daughter of Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Aumale and his wife Marie de Lorraine-Elbeuf, with issue from his first marriage. The present holder of the title of Marquis de los Balbases is his descendant the Duque de Alburquerque.

See José Lopez-Rey, Velázquez, catalogue raisonné, 1996, pp.107-109, for more information about the battle of Breda and Spinola’s involvement. Spinola was one of the most capable generals in the service of the Spanish monarchy during the course of the Thirty Year war. Spanish and Flemish officers were under his authority during this siege. Plilip IV of Spain’s great-aunt the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia was governor or Flanders at the time of the siege. The siege of Breda was a test of the power between the Netherlands and Spain and was eagerly watched by the rest of Europe. Spinola’s victory and recorded generosity in the terms of surrender and his magnanimity were respected.

The Order of the Golden Fleece

To this day The Order of the Golden Fleece is the most renowned of all collar orders, is divided into two distinct institutions, the senior granted by the King of Spain, the other the Habsburg order which was granted by Archduke Otto has retained much of its original noble character, it is now regarded as a dynastic order transferred to Vienna. Both orders use the same regalia. In Spain it is the highest ranking and most prestigious of the chivalric orders of the Crown of Spain, and has its origins in the original Burgundian foundation. Duke Philip III decided that to unite all his territories into one he would imitate the neo-Arthurian Order of the King of England to revive the chivalric traditions so admired and encourage noble deeds, he founded the Ordre de la T(h)oison d’Or on the 10th January 1430 to celebrate his marriage to his third wife the Infanta Isabella of Portugal. In many ways it was similar to the English order of the Knight of the Garter in its obligations and duties regarding the limited membership and both were dedicated to one patron, the Apostle Saint Andrew.

With the accession of Emperor Charles V, the Order became for a number of states the sole award for chivalry and any others that existed within individual states were thought inferior. The eventual loss of the Duchy did not result in the disappearance of the `perpetual entailed Burgundian Trust, attached to the Sovereignty. The laws of succession patented in 1363 & 1364 to the ducal titles, automatically applied to those of the Sovereignty of the Golden Fleece. It could not be included in the act of confiscation in 1478 as had never been under the French Crown. Maximilian was elected as Chief and Sovereign, and he was succeeded by his son Philip and his grandson Charles (Emperor Charles V), all who used the title Duke of Burgundy. Although the French Kings did not recognise the title of the Duke, they did acknowledge the right to the sovereignty of the Golden Fleece, membership of the Order was accepted by Francis I, Francis II, Charles IX, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X, from Habsburg and later Bourbon Sovereigns of the Order.

The Order of the Golden Fleece became an elite society of sovereigns, princes and great nobles and by the middle of the sixteenth century their statutory duties were nominal. As a largely ceremonial post that of the King of Arms was maintained in Spain until 1931 and all four posts continue in Austria.

Insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece

The order was a Christian foundation and the name and the badge of a pendant sheep’s fleece made of gold was representative of the fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts in the heroic classical legend, and associated with courage. The fleeces of Jacob, Mesa, Job and David were later associated with the badge and were linked to the virtues of magnanimity, justice, prudence, fidelity, patience and clemency. The badge was hung from a Collar adapted from a livery badge and with a fire-steel (fusil) resembling the Lombard B for Burgundy (briquete), with flames (pierre a fois) in between and the central fire-steel being elaborated later into an enamelled jewel, from which the badge was hung. Originally the collar alone was worn on all occasions, and the fleece was often engraved on armour, then at the beginning of the sixteenth century by decree from Charles V, the fleece alone was worn ordinarily, suspended on red or black ribbon. The two being worn together for ceremonial events. The badge itself, became more elaborate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and took on elements from the collar, were bejewelled, inscribed with mottoes, made in various techniques and from different materials and finally suspended by a decorative ribbon knot. In Spain the motto was never used on the briquete and as is seen here in the tapestry representation of the collar and the fleece was always shown with the head of the ram in relief. During ceremonial investiture a knight was entitled to a formal habit of a scarlet mantle and gold embroidered hat, which it 1473 became red velvet with white satin lining, and is now no longer needed, as formal investitures no longer take place.