A Flemish pastoral ‘Wine Harvest’ (Vendange) tapestry, ‘Wine Pressing’, woven in Southern Netherlands, probably Brussels, last quarter 15th century (circa 1480)

Formerly in the Larcade Collection, Paris ;

Blondeel Collection, Paris

Cleland, Elizabeth and Karafel, Lorraine, Glasgow Museums - Tapestries from the Burrell Collection, Philip Wilson Publishers, London, 2017, p.370, black and white, fig.1

Related Literature :

Cavallo, Adolfo Salvatore, Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993, No.49, Four Hunting Parks, Southern Netherlands, 1515-1535 (Inv.1941 - 41.190.106-107 and 41.190.227-228).

Cleland, Elizabeth and Karafel, Lorraine, Glasgow Museums - Tapestries from the Burrell Collection, Philip Wilson Publishers, London, 2017, comparable examples of two large tapestries, No.85, Scenes of Wine Making, probably Brussels, circa 1475, Vintners in a Wine Pressing (Inv.46.67) and Distribution of the Vintage (Inv. 46.68) pp.366-374.

Delmarcel, Guy, Flemish Tapestry, Thames and Hudson Publishers, London, 1999, The French Style, pp.54-63, The Grape Harvest and Pressing the Wine, Southern Netherlands (?), early 16th century, with figures on one side with the vat of grapes and the other section with figures including a lady being presented with grapes by a young man (Musee national du Moyen Age, Paris).

Delmarcel, Guy and De Meuter, Ingrid, The Cinquantenaire Tapestries: The Collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History, Snoeck Publishers, Brussels, 2023, Chp. I, Middle Ages, pp.15-39, No.6, Shearing the Sheep, possibly Tournai, third quarter 15th century (Musee national du Moyen Age, Paris), p.55.

Hoving, Thomas, Masterpieces of Tapestry from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century, Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition Catalogue, 1974, Nos.55-56. The Wine Harvest, pp.135-137, Casking and Transporting/Selling Wine, Toledo Museum of Art.

Hartkamp-Jonxis, Ebeltje and Smit, Hillie, European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2004.

Wyld, Helen, The Art of Tapestry, Philip Wilson Publishers, and National Trust Cultural Heritage Publishing, London, 2022

Wingfield Digby, George, Victoria and Albert Museum: The Tapestry Collection: Medieval and Renaissance, HMSO, London, 1980, No.19, La Main Claude (Game of Hot Cockles), p.33, pls.30-31 (Inv.5668-1859) and No.20, Rustic Sports, p.33, pls.32-33 (Inv. 5668A-1859).

After hunting, wine making was one of the most popular pastoral pursuits depicted in tapestries in the Middle Ages.

Cartoons were reused and modified, especially the costumes. The subject although woven by different weavers in different studios, and in different decades, had similarities due to the appeal of the subject. There are differences in the costumes for example in the tapestries scenes of Wine Making, including Vintners in a Wine Press and Distribution of the Vintage, with a design attributed to Dieric Bouts or a follower of Bouts, Southern Netherlands, probably Brussels, Burrell Collection, Glasgow, circa 1475, with the later comparable smaller tapestries depicting Casking and Selling of Wine, circa 1480, from the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.

Other popular and well known tapestries, of similar composition, colouration and technique and pastoral subjects, included those of the Hunt of the Unicorn (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), The Liberal Arts (Paris, Boston and Goteborg) and the series of the Lordly Life/Vie Seigneurial (Paris). For a comparable tapestry, see The Grape Harvest and Pressing the Wine, Southern Netherlands (?), early 16th century, with figures on one side with the vat of grapes and the other section with figures including a lady being presented with grapes by a young man (Paris, musée de Cluny, musée du Moyen-Age). Another comparable is the panel depicting The Distribution of the Vintage, Southern Netherlands, circa 1480, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (Inv.10658). There are also several smaller tapestries of male and female figures standing removing grapes from the trellis of vines, once separate and now all joined, Southern Netherlands, circa 1480 and 20th century additions, Burrell Collection Glasgow (Inv.46.70-46.73).