Tapestry with the Monogram of Sigismund Augustus and a

Tapestry with the Monogram of Sigismund Augustus and a Terrestrial Globe
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Author after a cartoon by an artist from the circle of Cornelis Floris and Cornelis Bos Performed by Frans Ghieteels workshop? Date of production ca. 1555 Place of creation Brussels Dimensions height: 287.5 cm, width: 410 cm Author's designation Frans Ghieteels? weaver’s mark in the bottom right corner ID no. ZKWawel 91 Museum Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection Availability in stock Subjects nature Technique weaving Material wool, silk, silver thread, gold thread Collector collection of King Sigismund Augustus Object copyright Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection • Digital images copyright public domain • Digitalisation RDW MIC, Digitalisation of the most significant tapestries from the collection of Wawel Royal Castle project • Tags Wawel, dwór, renesans, tkanina, ornament, 3D plus, król, zwierzęta, rośliny The grotesque tapestry with a monogram of King Sigismund Augustus (SA – Sigismundus Augustus) and a globe is part of a series of decorative textiles in which the royal monogram plays the major role. Before our eyes, an extravaganza unfolds of ancient gods, birds, animals, fruit and flower garlands. On the axis of the composition is placed an oval shield with the monogram of the king, covered with a closed crown. A richly decorated frame is surrounded by a wreath of fruit. Aside from apples, grapes and lemons, there is also a pineapple, brought to Europe by Christopher Columbus. Above the royal monogram, two winged putti hold the tapes with which the garland is tied to a bucranium (an architectural decoration in the form of a bovine skull, derived from ancient art). Above them, we can also see Mercury standing facing the viewer, under a canopy with rolled­up curtains. The canopy was a sign of honour indicating the highest office. Another pair of putti support the fruit garland. Below the shield, on the scaffolding of decorative strips of wood, there is a globe with schematically outlined continents. Although from the lines of lands a shape emerges which resembles Africa from the sixteenth­century atlas Cosmografia. Beschreibung aller Lender by Sebastian Münster, this presentation should not be taken literally. It is rather a symbolic presentation of the power of the Polish king. In the upper part of the tapestry, symmetrically on both sides of the composition, two hermae are placed with busts of a Native American man and woman in leafy headdresses on their heads. They stand under arches of acanthus garlands entwined around with snakes. In the middle part, below the herms, there can be seen monkeys sitting on predatory animals which somewhat resemble lions. The monkey on the right beats a drum, and the one on the left plays the bagpipes. The lower part of the decoration is occupied by mythological winged creatures of the sea, a siren and a triton, which serve large vases with bouquets of flowers to unidentified deities resting in the corners of the textile. The weavers reconstructed the flowers meticulously – one can recognise columbines among them and irises, which are often found in tapestries. The red background of the textile is filled with climbing plants in bloom, vines and fantastically feathered birds.
The border framing the tapestry is a composition of two intertwined ribbons, between which flowers are placed. We can meet this composition in all tapestries; it is part of broader borders, with depictions of mythological deities, or it creates a frame of the composition by itself.
Elaborated by Magdalena Ozga (Wawel Royal Castle), editorial team of Małopolska’s Virtual Museums, CC­BY 3.0 PL
Historia kolekcji arrasów Zygmunta Augusta
Zygmunt August zamówił część tkanin prawdopodobnie około 1548 roku. Według Wychwalnika weselnego Stanisława Orzechowskiego (Panagyricus Nuptiarum Sigimundi Augusti Poloniae Regis, wyd. 1553) trzy serie tapiserii (Dzieje pierwszych rodziców, Dzieje Mojżesza i Dzieje Noego) już 30 lipca 1553 roku zdobiły wnętrza zamku wawelskiego z okazji uroczystości weselnych Zygmunta Augusta i Katarzyny Habsburżanki. Przyjmuje się, że po tym roku król zamówił kolejne grupy tkanin, a około 1560 roku cała kolekcja znajdowała się już w jego posiadaniu.
W testamencie z 1571 roku bezpotomny Zygmunt August zapisał kolekcję arrasów swoim trzem siostrom: Zofii – księżnej brunszwickiej, Katarzynie – królowej szwedzkiej i Annie – przyszłej królowej Polski. Według woli króla, po ich śmierci kolekcja miała przejść na własność Rzeczypospolitej. Jeszcze w 1572 roku arrasy złożono w zamku królewskim w Tykocinie, następnie zaś rozdzielono między królewskie rezydencje (Kraków, Niepołomice, Grodno, Warszawa). W 1578 roku Anna przekazała część tego zbioru do Sztokholmu jednej ze spadkobierczyń – Katarzynie, natomiast zrządzeniem losu powrócił on do Polski w 1587 lub 1591 roku razem z synem tej ostatniej – Zygmuntem III Wazą.
Tradycyjnie tapiserie stanowiły oprawę artystyczną najważniejszych królewskich uroczystości, również po śmierci Zygmunta Augusta. Towarzyszyły jego ceremonii pogrzebowej w 1572 roku, a także koronacji Henryka Walezego w 1574 roku. Po tych wydarzeniach wróciły do swojej funkcji dopiero w 1592 roku, kiedy ozdobiły komnaty wawelskie podczas pierwszego wesela Zygmunta III Wazy z Anną Austriaczką, jak również drugiego – z jej siostrą Konstancją w 1605 roku. Zygmuntowskie arrasy stanowiły też dekorację kolegiaty św. Jana i zamku królewskiego w Warszawie podczas ślubu Władysława IV z Cecylią Renatą we wrześniu 1637 roku.
W czasie potopu szwedzkiego (1655–1657), kolekcję asekuracyjnie wywieziono w nieznane miejsce. Wbrew woli Zygmunta Augusta, arrasy traktowane przez ówczesnego króla Jana Kazimierza jak własność prywatna, stały się przedmiotem rozgrywek abdykującego władcy. Ekskról wziął pożyczkę pod zastaw „Opon Potopowych” (jak określano wówczas zbiorczo tapiserie), która została przekazana Franciszkowi Grattcie, gdańskiemu bankierowi i kupcowi. Następnie Jan Kazimierz w 1669 roku, aby zapewnić sobie zagwarantowaną mu prowizje pieniężną i ją regulować, polecił Grattcie ukryć arrasy. Mimo tej prywaty, w lutym 1670 roku kolekcja została wypożyczona z „tajemniczego” miejsca przechowywania w celu ozdobienia klasztoru i kościoła oo. Paulinów na Jasnej Górze z okazji ślubu Michała Korybuta Wiśniowieckiego z Eleonorą Habsburżanką oraz dla dekoracji kolegiaty św. Jana w Warszawie podczas koronacji Eleonory. Śmierć Jana Kazimierza nie rozwiązała sprawy, gdyż do będących wciąż w zastawie arrasów roszczenia mieli następnie spadkobierca ekskróla i Rzeczypospolita. W 1673 roku uchwalono Deklarację o Potopie, zgodnie z którą do kolekcji arrasów pretensje mogła mieć wyłącznie Rzeczpospolita i ona jedyna mogła je wykupić, co też się stało, ale dopiero w 1724 roku. Odzyskaną kolekcję tkanin złożono w klasztorze oo. Karmelitów Bosych w Warszawie. Od tej pory arrasy należały do Skarbu Koronnego, którym zajmowali się kolejni podskarbiowie. Były używane między innymi podczas świąt Bożego Ciała, a także do dekoracji kolegiaty św. Jana i zamku warszawskiego z okazji koronacji Stanisława Augusta Poniatowskiego w 1768 roku.
Od 1785 roku kolekcję przechowywano w Pałacu Rzeczypospolitej pełniącym funkcję archiwum państwowego. Dziesięć lat później, w listopadzie 1795 roku, podczas oblężenia Warszawy przez wojska zaborcy, z rozkazu Katarzyny II tkaniny zostały zrabowane i wywiezione do magazynów Pałacu Taurydzkiego w Petersburgu. Po 1860 roku rozdzielono kolekcję arrasów, której część wykorzystano do dekoracji Pałacu Zimowego w Petersburgu i carskich rezydencji w Gatczynie i Liwadii na Krymie, natomiast kolejne części przekazano do Muzeum Stajni Dworskich, zbiorów Akademii Sztuk Pięknych i Dyrekcji Teatrów. Dopiero po stu dwudziestu sześciu latach, na mocy postanowień traktatu ryskiego z 1921 roku rewindykowano większą część dawnej kolekcji arrasów ze Związku Radzieckiego, której zwrot realizowany partiami trwał do 1928 roku.
W momencie wybuchu II wojny światowej, we wrześniu 1939 roku, podjęto decyzję o wywiezieniu z Polski arrasów wraz z innymi dziełami ze skarbca wawelskiego. Zabytki ewakuowano przez Rumunię do Francji, gdzie w ośrodku tkackim w Aubusson poddane zostały reperacji. Jednak z czasem po złamaniu oporu francuskiego, w obliczu zagrożenia skarby przetransportowano drogą morską do Anglii. Ta ostatnia również okazała się niebezpiecznym miejscem z powodu rozpoczynającej się bitwy o Anglię. Wobec tej sytuacji dzieła przewieziono na polskim statku Batorym do Kanady, gdzie przebywały w bardzo dobrych warunkach. Po zakończeniu wojny władze tego państwa zwlekały z oddaniem depozytu w związku z zagrożeniami wynikającymi ze zmian ustroju i władzy w Polsce po 1945 roku. Szczególny opór w sprawie zwrotu arrasów stawiał ich ówczesny opiekun w Quebec – Maurice Duplessis. Zagrożenie przywłaszczenia arrasów przez rząd kanadyjski wywołało ogromny skandal i burzę zarówno w kraju, jak i wśród polskich władz emigracyjnych. Dopiero po śmierci Duplessisa w 1959 roku, dzięki licznym interwencjom i wielkiemu staraniu wybitnych polskich osobistości odzyskano arrasy, które wróciły na Wawel w lutym 1961 roku.
Dwie spośród rozpoznanych tapiserii z dawnej kolekcji Zygmunta Augusta znajdują się poza Wawelem. Pierwsza tkanina – Upadek moralny ludzkości z serii Dzieje Noego, odnaleziona na Kremlu, powróciła do Polski dopiero w 1977 roku jako dar władz radzieckich dla odbudowywanego wówczas zamku warszawskiego, w którym się dziś znajduje. Natomiast druga – jedyny zachowany w całości arras nadokienny – dostał się z Rosji niewiadomą drogą na rynek antykwaryczny. Zakupiony przez Rijksmuseum w Amsterdamie, od 1952 roku stanowi część jego zbiorów. Opracowanie: Magdalena Ozga (Zamek Królewski na Wawelu), Redakcja WMM, © wszystkie prawa zastrzeżone
Tags: World War II, fabric, Renaissance, manor house, ceremony, Russia, Wawel, event, King Splendour, Representation, and Politics – Heraldic and Monogram and Tapestries
Decorating walls with precious textiles added grandeur and significance to modest interiors. It is known from preserved descriptions and inventories that European rulers highly valued this artwork and loved being surrounded with tapestries since they added splendour to their owners. Tapestries were ordered for specific chambers of a ruler's residence as they performed relevant functions in a given space, expressed through the subject matter of their presentations. A special place in the entire collection of Sigismund II Augustus was occupied by monogram and heraldic tapestries, commissioned probably after 1553 (around 1555). Their subject matter and set of motifs expressed a precisely defined agenda directly related to the person of the ruler and his country.
This kind of monarchical textile originates as far back as in the Byzantine tradition. Heraldic tapestries were very popular from the late Middle Ages, for example those of the millefleur type, in which coats of arms of rulers were depicted against a meadow with a thousand flowers. Such goods of a typically court and stately nature were produced in Audenarde and Tournai in the fifteenth century and in Brussels in the sixteenth century.
We learn from Panegyric by Stanisław Orzechowski where the first three series of tapestries with scenes from Genesis comissioned by Sigismund II Augustus were presented. Their dimensions and subject matter determined their function, first as a decoration of interiors (of private and representative rooms such as the Tournament Hall, the Envoys' Room and the Military Review Room) and then as a setting for the most important royal ceremonies. In contrast, monogram and heraldic tapestries were intended for official audience chambers. Their function was emphasised by the language of forms relating to the circle of royal symbols and emblems, as well as moral didacticism, which was to glorify the power and politics of the state.
The first group consists of monogram tapestries, those in which the king's initials SA – Sigismundus Augustus – appear. The intertwined initials of the ruler, surmounted by a closed crown, formed a personal sign of Sigismund II Augustus, which was also his supralibros (the proprietary mark of a book collection). The SA monogram is present in the tapestries of King Sigismund in several variants. It appears in a cartouche or medallion, surrounded by Netherlandish grotesque, as well as on a forest background, accompanied by two satyrs – shield bearers. A culmination of this group of textiles is the most impressive tapestry among them – the monogram tapestry with a globe. Individual elements of its composition can be interpreted symbolically; however, its most important element is the title globe, which, in the context of the royal initials, refers to the majesty of authority – therefore, it is the most representative.
Heraldic tapestries form a group of textiles bearing a meaning associated strictly with the state of Sigismund II Augustus. The king commissioned the whole series of fabrics which constituted an interpretation of his political agenda. Being aware of the fact that he had no heir, Sigismund II Augustus strived to strengthen bonds between the Commonwealth and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania throughout the entire period of his reign, especially towards the end of his life. Many years of efforts resulted in the Union of Lublin signed in 1569, which united the two nations under the rule of one king. Commissioning of heraldic tapestries even before the union, around 1555, seemed to be a resolute political measure, in which art was a tool used to propagate the royal agenda.
In all the textiles of the latter group there are presented the coats of arms of the Commonwealth – the Eagle with the SA monogram on its chest, whose shield is surmounted by a crown – and the coats of arms of Lithuania – the Charging Knight with a shield closed with a ducal cap. Heraldic tapestries can be divided into two types.
The first one presents both coats of arms together against a grotesque in the background, accompanied by the goddesses Ceres or Victoria. Because of their sizes and strong propaganda overtones, these are the most impressive variants of this group. The figure of Ceres in the context of the coats of arms symbolises prosperity and wealth resulting from economic ties between the two nations. The meaning of these economic relations is enhanced by bunches of ripe fruit and vegetables. Victoria standing on a stack of militaria with a broken spear and a laurel wreath in her hands represents the peace and victory that was to be brought to the united Kingdom by a common foreign policy (especially in the era of the contemporary threat for the Duchy from the tsar of Russia – Ivan IV the Terrible). This heraldic tapestries from the group of grotesques are intentionally presented against a red background. With their colours, they refer to the ancient prototype of this ornament and, above all, to the imperial purple indicating the regal splendour. Intense colours of tapestries stood out from colours of interiors of the castle chambers, adding splendour and official character thereto.
The second type of heraldic tapestries are over­window and over­door textiles, which present a single coats of arms against the background of a mannerist landscape with animals; therefore, they belong to landscape and animal tapestries (verdures).
Making use of art to demonstrate the royal power and state policy was natural; this method was used both in the Commonwealth and throughout Europe at that time. For this purpose, Sigismund II Augustus used very stately and valuable tapestries not every ruler could afford, which added splendour to his court and testified to the greatness of the state governed by the Jagiellonian king.
Elaborated by Paulina Kluz (Editorial Team of Małopolska's Virtual Museums), CC­BY 3.0 PL
Bibliography:
Maria Bernasikowa, Arrasy Zygmunta Augusta świadkiem królewskich uroczystości (The tapestries of Sigismund Augustus as a witness of royal ceremonies), [in:] Theatrum ceremoniale na dworze książąt i królów polskich (Theatrum ceremoniale at the court of Polish kings and princes), proceedings of the academic conference organised by the Wawel Castle and the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University on 23­25 March 1998, Mariusz Markiewicz, Ryszard Skowrona (eds.), Kraków 1999, pp. 255–
265;
Magdalena Piwocka, Arrasy z groteskami (Tapestries with grotesques), [in:] Arrasy wawelskie (The Wawel Tapestries), edited by Jerzy Szablowski, Anna Misiąg­Bocheńska, Maria Hennel­Bernasikowa, Magdalena Piwocka, Warszawa 1994, pp. 271–348;
Magdalena Piwocka, Arrasy Zygmunta Augusta (The Tapestries of Sigismund Augustus), Kraków 2007.
Tags: fabric, coat of arms, Renaissance, manor house, Wawel, King From Ornament of Late Antiquity to Netherlandish Grotesque
On one of the seven hills of Rome – the Esquiline Hill – caves full of ancient paintings were excavated around 1480 under the foundations of medieval buildings. Their walls were decorated with fantastic, light and symmetrical structures created of figural, animal and floral motifs. La grotte, or caves, were in fact ruins of the villa of the Emperor Nero. It was called Domus Aurea because of the extraordinarily rich decoration of the walls and the inner part of the dome, which were covered with gold and paintings. They were created between A.D. 54 and 68 and related to the turn of the Third Style and Fourth Style of Pompeian painting.
The term grotesque (grottesche) was derived from the name of the finding (la grotte). The way the ornament is called can also be translated as “weird, weirdness.” In its form, grotesque resembled ornaments of ancient origin popular in the Renaissance, namely arabesque or Islamic moresque. However, they both assumed the shape of a more or less stylised braided plants; on the other hand, grotesque was enriched with numerous additional motifs, and it created a fantastic structure. Formally, the latter was also close to its predecessor – the late medieval braided plants – since characters and animals were entwined in it in the same way. However, in medieval ornament it had an apotropaic or allegorical function.
Renaissance ornamentation was immensely influenced by the discovery of Domus Aurea. The finding was the main source of inspiration for artists, even though at that time there were known examples of other ancient grotesques decorating, for instance, the Colosseum and Hadrian's villa in Tivoli. The popularity and strengthening of the fashion for Renaissance grotesque was primarily an effect of the influence of works by artists from the early sixteenth century, which were travesty of ancient paintings. The most important works of art in this field were paintings of the Vatican loggias, the Villa Madama and Palazzo Baldassini – the works of Raphael and his apprentice Giovanni da Udine. They were almost a total novelty in the field of decoration and this contributed to their extraordinary popularity among contemporary artists. Grotesque became a decoration type widely known and used in the first half of the sixteenth century (especially after 1520) thanks to the Italian works mentioned above, as well as widely accessible patterns created by ornamentalists.
Through numerous imitations of ancient grotesque in various art centres, this ornament gained its local variants. Grotesque, Raphael Santi, decoration of the Vatican loggias, 1518, source: Wikipedia, public domain
Netherlandish grotesque, even though based on the same formula as the Italian one, had a slightly different structure and elements. It gained extraordinary popularity thanks to replicated in graphic arts designs of Cornelis Floris or Cornelis Bos (e.g. The Book of Moresque of 1554), ornamentalists unequalled in their skill and imagination.
Initially, Netherlandish grotesque included mostly floral motifs but in time, because of oriental inspirations, exotic animals and fantastic creatures appeared, as well. The following mythological motifs were depicted particularly frequently: pairs of deities, their frolics, Bacchic processions, and various fantastic creatures or hybrids of human, animals and plants. In their details, depictions of an allegorical nature and even allusions to the exoticism of the New World (e.g. figures of Indians) can be noticed.
Netherlandish grotesque seemed to be, above all, more filled up than the Italian one. It had a much richer repertoire of motifs, and its spaces, separated in a certain way by the structure (scaffolding), were almost entirely filled with ripe fruit garlands and putti, as well as exotic plants and animals. However, horror vacui did not disturb the sense of order, which was controlled by the symmetry of the arrangement of all elements of the decoration. Interestingly, in its expanded form, the scaffolding structure, on which individual elements were based, was similar to metal fittings and fragments of rolled metal sheet, heralding the ferrule ornament that appeared in the art of the Netherlands in the mid­sixteenth century.
The specificity of Netherlandish grotesque was its characteristic dualism manifested in the almost encyclopaedic realism of some depictions of plants and animals (species of which we are able to recognise), as well as fantasy affecting construction of its form, typical of this ornament.
See also:
Borders of tapestries of the Story of the First Parents, Story of Noah and Story of the Tower of Babel series;
Grotesque tapestries of monogram, heraldic and under­window types
Grotesque decoration of a pharmaceutical mortar
Elaborated by Paulina Kluz (Editorial Team of Małopolska's Virtual Museums), CC­BY 3.0 PL
Bibliography:
Aleksandra Bernatowicz, Niepodobne do rzeczywistości. Malowana groteska w rezydencjach Warszawy i Mazowsza 1777–1821 (Unlike reality. Painted grotesque in residences of Warsaw and Mazovia), Warszawa 2006;
Magdalena Piwocka, Arrasy z groteskami (Tapestries with grotesques), [in:] Arrasy wawelskie (Wawel Tapestries), edited by Jerzy Szablowski, Anna Misiąg­Bocheńska, Maria Hennel­Bernasikowa, Magdalena Piwocka, Warszawa 1994, pp. 271–348;
Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych (Terminological Dictionary of Fine Arts), Krystyna Kubalska­
Sulkiewicz, Warszawa 2007.
Tags: Renaissance, plants, ornament, excavations, animals, Rome