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 second tapestry shows The Exaltation of Apollo. The Sun God sits at the edge of a wood on Parnassus – the mountain dedicated to him. He strums his favourite instrument, the lyre, while surrounded by six muses who play music and sing. He wears a laurel crown as the creator of divine music. Three vaguely represented figures can be made out in the midst of an Arcadian landscape. They probably represent the remaining three of the nine muses of Antiquity. The muses were a symbol of wisdom, eloquence, even temper and the ability to sing the praises of gods and humans. The Exaltation of Apollo is a clear ode to civilisation.
| Artist |
Urbanus Leyniers
RKD
|
|---|---|
|
Daniël II Leyniers
RKD
|
|
|
Hendrik Reydams
|
|
|
Jan van Orley
RKD
Wikidata
|
|
|
Aurèle Augustin Coppens
|
|
| Title | The Glorification of Apollo |
| Date | 1717 |
| Period | 18th century |
| Location | Brussels TGN |
| Collection | decorative arts (discipline) AAT |
| Object type | tapestries AAT |
| Inventory number | 1994-F-2 |
| Acquisition credit |
transfer
Stadhuis Ghent 1994 |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1994-F-2 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/3957/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300417629
mythologies (religious concept)
AAT
300015636 landscapes AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
25G3
trees
Iconclass
25G4111(+1) garland, wreath (+ plants used symbolically) Iconclass 25H11 mountains Iconclass 48C7321 lyre, cithara, psaltery Iconclass 9 Classical Mythology and Ancient History Iconclass 92 gods ~ classical mythology Iconclass 92B the great gods of Heaven, and their train Iconclass 92B3 (story of) Apollo (Phoebus) Iconclass 92B37 specific aspects, allegorical aspects of Apollo; Apollo as patron Iconclass 92B373 Apollo playing the lyre, Apollo Citharoedus Iconclass 92B3731 Apollo and the Muses, Apollo Musagetes Iconclass 93C Parnassus, sacred to Apollo Musagetes Iconclass |
| School / Style | Rococo AAT |
| 'Tapijtwerkers en tapijtwerk te Gent', in: Duizend jaar kunst en cultuur / Erik Duverger. - Gent : [s.n.] : [s.a.] (dl. III, p. 550-557) |
| 'De triomf van Mars, een Brussels wandtapijt in de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst / Ingrid De Meûter. - Brussel : [s.n.] : [s.a.] (p. 123-137) |
| 200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 108 (ill. 49), 270) |
| Het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : een keuze uit de mooiste werken / Patrick De Rynck. - Gent : Ludion, 2007 (p. 54-55 (ill.)) |
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Do you have any suggestions, questions or information about this work? Write us, collectie.msk@stad.gent |
