The Glorification of Diana
Artist(s) / maker(s)
Urbanus Leyniers (workshop / studio),
Jan van Orley (cartoons (working drawings))
,
Hendrik Reydams (workshop / studio)
,
Daniël II Leyniers (workshop / studio)
,
Aurèle Augustin Coppens (cartoons (working drawings))
Date
1717Period
18th centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
In 1716, the Viscounty of the Oudburg in Ghent commissioned a series of tapestries devoted to the Exaltation of the Gods. The Viscounty was a fief of the County of Flanders, located within the walls of the Counts’ Castle. Barely a year later, the tapestries were hung in the Castellany. The Oudburg arms appears in the middle of each tapestry…
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In 1716, the Viscounty of the Oudburg in Ghent commissioned a series of tapestries devoted to the Exaltation of the Gods. The Viscounty was a fief of the County of Flanders, located within the walls of the Counts’ Castle. Barely a year later, the tapestries were hung in the Castellany. The Oudburg arms appears in the middle of each tapestry. Oudburg College was closed down during the period of French revolutionary occupation and the Viscounty building was demolished. The series ended up in the Museum of Fine Art in 1904, having had several homes in the interim. The Exaltation of Diana pays tribute to the twin sister of Apollo and youngest daughter of Jupiter. She is both the Goddess of the Hunt and protectress of wild animals, while her virginity makes her the Goddess of Chastity and the counterpart of Venus. Diana lived in the forest and open fields with her devoted and equally virginal nymphs. The tapestry shows her enthroned beneath a canopy, resting after the hunt.
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