Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

166
HAMPTON COURT
Regent of the Netherlands, and executed between
1530 and 1541. Evelyn speaks of them as "designed
by Raphael," 1 under whom Van Orlay is supposed to
have studied. The clearness and a certain simplicity
in the designs may be said to show the influence of
the great Umbrian. They are proved by marks to
have been manufactured at Brussels. Their continuous
connection with Hampton Court is traceable
from the time of Henry VIII., in the inventory of
whose possessions they are mentioned with the exact
measurements, as "Tenne pieces of new arras of the
Historie of Abraham." They are mentioned again
by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1613, and when the
property of Charles I. was valued in 1649, were
estimated at ,£10 a yard — in all /"8260. They
were taken for Cromwell's own use, and were seen
at Hampton Court by Evelyn in 1662. This
was the period of the greatest value of tapestry.
James I. and Charles I. were both very fond of
it, and generously supported the manufacture at
1" There is much in the style of Raphaelinthe treatment of the
subjects. One boy in particular appears to have stepped from the
cartoon of the Beautiful Gate. Bernardvan Orlay, who was a successful
pupil of Raffaelle, was in the employment of Charles V.,and
was highly esteemed by that monarch. A peculiarity in his style
of paintingassimilatedstrongly to the richnessof these hangings, and
he very usually painted his subjects on a gilt ground. He was also
employed by the Prince of Nassau to paint cartoons for tapestry.
He has been frequentlycalled Bernard of Brussels. It ismore probable
that the two B.'s worked on the edge belong to the director
of the loom than to the designer, or they might seem to confirm
the idea that these tapestries came from the Imperial Court.'* —
Jesse, "A Summer'sDay at Hampton Court," p. 25.