The scenes are of pure carnage and chaos. Iron-clad men thrusting swords and pikes into each other. Guns firing and flames burning. Waves of human bodies both rushing to confront and scattering from conflict. Soldiers and horses drowning in bodies of water.
These are all snapshots of war depicted not in photographs or oil paints, but wool, thread, and silk, stitched together with gold and silver thread. These are the Renaissance-era Pavia Tapestries.
“The medium of tapestry [carries] a luxury and prestige that oil paintings may not. Plus, they cost a lot more to produce,” notes James Anno, Associate Curator of European Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The venue is one of only a handful in the United States that will be displaying them, the first time they’ve traveled to this country since their creation nearly 500 years ago.
“Viewers of these tapestries would know that the expense was high, and that has its own cache. And the materials are just resplendent,” Anno continues. “Plus, tapestries travel well—they can just be rolled up and moved. And they often traveled with their owner. Finally, they could even insulate a room in a medieval stone castle hanging on the wall.”
The complete set of all seven tapestries (each roughly 14 feet tall by 28 feet wide) will be shown, along with a collection of Renaissance-era armor and weapons, in Knights in Shining Armor: The Pavia Tapestries. The exhibit opens March 2 and runs through May 26.
For Renaissance history and military scholars, the Battle of Pavia—which took place the morning of February 24, 1525, in Visconti Park, just outside the town’s walls—ended with an important and decisive event. It marked the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s indisputable victory over France’s King Francis I and his forces, ending the era’s so-called Italian Wars.
Military history was also made on the battlefield of the Duchy of Milan state (now Northern Italy), with the victors using then-unheard-of barrel-loaded firearms. Charles V wanted the triumph commemorated.
So, a series of elaborate, action-packed tapestries featuring episodes of the day were commissioned, designed by court artist Bernard van Orley, and woven in Brussels by cousins Willem and Jan Dermoyen. The completed series was an immediate smash when first shown at court in 1531.
Passed through the hands of heirs and military families, the Pavia Tapestries found a permanent (and current) home in Naples at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte. The Museum is currently undergoing some renovations, hence the Pavia Tapestries going out on tour.
Here, van Orley likely produced the original sketches, then made scale cartoons with assistants. Those then went on to the Dermoyen’s weavers’ workshop, which hosted multiple looms. Each tapestry likely took up to a year and a half to produce. Anno says that from an artistic perspective, tapestries require many hands and can be a much more collaborative medium.
“Take the Sistine Chapel and Michaelangelo,” Anno says. “The myth is that he was up there all by himself toiling from 1508-12. But he too would have had assistants mixing pigments and making preparations. There would have been a support system. Likewise, tapestry requires many hands. It’s not a one-stop shop.”
Interestingly, the Pavia Tapestries would not be the only sort of co-credit that van Orley and the Dermoyens had. Anno says the trio were also responsible for the other set of what many experts feel is the other great series of Renaissance tapestries. Those dozen works are under the umbrella title The Hunt of Maximilian, which hang in the Louvre in Paris. These too were also produced specifically for Charles V.
All seven Pavia tapestries went through an extensive restoration project two years ago in preparation for this tour, undergoing a more complex process than restoration for paintings.
Anno notes that it actually starts with a light vacuum on the material to remove dirt and dust with a soft, fine brush attachment. Then, solvents could be added to loosen up the more stubborn dirt with continued vacuuming. Finally, if the textile is beginning to pull apart, conservators dive in with a delicate thread and needle to very carefully make pinpoint repairs.
He adds that the border on each tapestry, while post-dating their original production, are historic. They are painted even though they look woven while the metallic threads in the tapestries have oxidized and changed colors over the centuries. Anno says it gives the whole thing a resplendent light effect.
Also on display in the exhibit will be period-era armor and weapons from the collection of the House of Farnese, an Italian family that ruled the duchy of Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1731.
“The correspondence between the imagery in the tapestries and the arms and armor is on purpose. There’s a direct relation that gives context to them with a great synergy,” Anno says.
“Though much of the armor is parade armor that was not worn into actual battle, but in processions and military public displays. And you can see the craftmanship is high. People will be stunned by the detail and iconography. They are works of art properly as well.”
Anno’s words are swallowed a bit by a high mechanical whistle in the background where he’s speaking from. “Sorry!” he says. “I’m in the gallery and we’re actually installing the exhibit right now!”
Finally, we close with the question the Houston Press asks every MFAH curator. Say there’s a knock on the door at Anno’s office, and museum Head Honcho Gary Tinterow walks in, offering Anno to take home any one piece on display. What would he take, and why?
“That’s tough!” he says laughing. “I’m tempted to take one of the tapestries, but my house isn’t big enough!” More able to fit in his abode, he says, is the impressive piece that will great each museumgoer at the start of the exhibit: A sword-wielding mannequin soldier mounted on a similar horse, both sporting full Renaissance-era body armor.
“You get a sense of the imposing and impressive nature of what you’d encounter on the battlefield. It’s the perfect way to greet our guests” Anno sums up though, unfortunately, even if he could take Tinterow up on his mythical offer, houseguests to the Anno abode would be out of luck.
“I could put it in my living room, but my wife would probably be upset with me if she came home and saw that in there!”
Knights in Shining Armor: The Pavia Tapestries runs March 2-May 26 at the Caroline Weiss Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. For information call 713-639-7300 or visit MFAH.org/exhibitions. $20-$24, children 12 and under free.
