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Meadows Museum SMU www.smu.edu/meadows/museum Exhibitions The Invention of Glory: Alfonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries Vicent Lopez: Portrait of Influential American Merchant Richard Worsam Meade
The Meadows Museum offers its visitors the opportunity to view a set of four fifteenth-century tapestries that have been preserved since at least the seventeenth century at the Collegiate Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Pastrana in the Spanish province of Guadalajara. Known collectively as the Pastrana tapestries, these masterfully woven creations were produced in the Tournai workshops in Belgium during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. It is not known for certain how these tapestries made their way to Pastrana; the leading theory is that they were given to King Philip II of Spain by Rui Gomes da Silva (1516-73), prince of Éboli (and later the first duke of Pastrana), around the time of the union of the kingdom of Spain and Portugal. Prized for their technical execution, the sumptuous materials employed in their creation, and their monumental scale (reaching to 36 feet in length and 13 feet in height), the Pastrana tapestries are above all rare in terms of subject matter. While most tapestries of the period featured biblical or mythological subjects, the Pastrana tapestries are some of the few extant examples that depict contemporaneous events – the conquest of the North African cities of Asilah and Tangier by Afonso V (1432-81), King of Portugal. Smarting from the fall of Constantinople to Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, the Christian world was rallied by subsequent papal bulls of Popes Nicholas V and Callixtus III to join in Crusades to defend the Church against the Infidel. Pope Callixtus III in 1456 granted the Portuguese Order of Christ, an order founded in 1319 to fight the Muslims, spiritual jurisdiction over conquered lands. Accordingly, in 1458, Afonso V began his exploits into the Maghreb, conquering Ksar es-Seghir, Asilah, and Tangier. As a result of his North African conquests, Afonso V effected a change in title of Portuguese kings thereafter to “Rei de Portugal e dos Algarves Daquém e Dalém Mar em África” [“King of Portugal and of the Algarves on these shores and beyond the sea in Africa”]; he himself attained the sobriquet “the African.” Ostensibly a fight of faith, Afonso’s Moroccan invasion was also a victory for Portugal’s expansionist policies. Three of the four tapestries narrate respectively the Portuguese landing, siege, and triumph at Asilah in 1471. Once Asilah fell, Tangier—the Portuguese occupation of which is the subject of the fourth tapestry—was in no position to resist the Portuguese. This event was significant for Afonso V, who was determined to overtake the strategically positioned port city on the Strait of Gibraltar after his uncles’ prior unsuccessful attempts. By conquering Tangier, Afonso was also avenging the death of the Infante Dom Fernando, killed in captivity in Fez in 1443. Commissioned by Afonso V, the Pastrana tapestries must have been created soon after the victorious Portuguese expeditions into North Africa from drawings based on oral or written descriptions of the events. The tapestries display in magnificent detail the multitude of soldiers, carracks, armor, cannons, and firearms. In the three Asilah cycle tapestries, ubiquitous standards pay homage to Portugal, while the banners bearing the rodízio espargindo gotas [the wheel spraying drops] are the personal emblem of Afonso V. Recently, the Fundación Carlos de Amberes supported the two-year restoration of the tapestries at the Royal Manufacturers De Wit in Belgium, which has returned the four woven tableaux to their original splendor. To expose the tapestries to a wider audience during the renovation of their exhibit rooms at the Collegiate Church of Pastrana, the tapestries have been traveling since January 2010 to museums in Brussels, Lisbon, Toledo, and Madrid. The tour continues in the United States, where the Meadows Museum will be the first American venue after the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to exhibit these fifteenth-century masterpieces. The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Fundación Carlos de Amberes, Madrid, in association with the Embassy of Spain, the Spain-USA Foundation, and the Embassy of Portugal and with the cooperation of the Embassy of Belgium and the Embassy of Morocco in Washington, D.C. Generous financial support from The Meadows Foundation has helped to make the Dallas venue possible. The conservation of the tapestries was undertaken at the initiative of the Fundación Carlos de Amberes, with support from the Belgian Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund, the Spanish Fundación Caja Madrid, the Region of Castilla-La Mancha, the Provincial Council of Guadalajara, and the Diocese of Sigu¨enza-Guadalajara / Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. The conservation of the tapestries received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards 2011 http://www.europanostra.org/projects/65/. Portrait of Influential American Merchant Richard Worsam Meade, First Major Collector of Spanish Art in U.S. A rare portrait of influential American merchant and naval agent Richard Worsam Meade—the first major collector of Spanish art in the U.S.—will be made accessible to the public in its new home at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University. On May 10, the museum will unveil the masterwork by Vicente López, one of the most significant painters of the Spanish Enlightenment. Acquired with the generous support of six donors from the Dallas community, the unpublished painting will add depth to the museum’s holdings of work by this celebrated court painter and will provide insight into a legendary American family. Meade was the son of the Philadelphia Revolutionary George Meade, and his son, George Gordon Meade – better known as General Meade – went on to defeat Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg. Around 1800, Richard Worsam Meade moved his export business to the port city of Cádiz, Spain where he began to collect paintings as currency for debts. It was there that Meade developed one of the most outstanding private collections of Spanish art, including paintings by Titian, Correggio, Veronese, Rubens, Van Dyck, Velázquez, and Murillo, and ultimately became the first American collector known to have owned a painting by Murillo. “Meade could in many ways be considered the earliest predecessor of our museum’s founder, Algur H. Meadows,” said director Mark Roglán. “Both men were influential American entrepreneurs who, in the course of their business abroad in Spain, developed a passion for the country’s art, ultimately creating a new audience for it back home. This exceptional painting will be the first portrait of an American painted by a Spanish painter to enter our collection, and it is fitting that the subject is someone who shares a legacy with our founding patron.” The painting will be on display at the museum beginning Tuesday, May 10, and will be included in the upcoming exhibition Meadows Collects: Ten Years, Ten Works, which will open in the fall of 2011. The exhibition will feature the ten most significant works the Meadows has acquired over the past decade, and will celebrate the ten year anniversary of their current home, which was funded by The Meadows Foundation. López, honorary court painter to Charles IV (r. 1788-1808), was later appointed First Court Painter to Ferdinand VII alongside Francisco Goya in 1814. Ferdinand VII eventually began to greatly prefer the work of López, and in 1826 Goya requested permission to retire, leaving López as the primary court painter to the King. López went on to be the court painter for a third monarch, Queen Isabella II (r. 1830-1868), the eldest daughter of Ferdinand VII. This monumental portrait of Meade, which dates from 1815, was likely created in Madrid where López was working at the time. The painting depicts Meade seated at a desk, turned to confront the viewer, and showcases López’s extraordinary technical skill, from his detailed depiction of a wrinkle in the carpet to the color palette on the Meade’s clothing, which is echoed on the patterned rug. This López painting is a significant addition to the Meadows Museum’s collection, as it provides a more comprehensive understanding of López’s work as a portraitist, and also draws important connections to the Museum’s foundation. The painting is the fourth by López in the Meadows collection, which also includes the Portrait of José Martínez de Hervás, Marqués de Almenara (1812), the Portrait of José Orbaiceta, Marqués de Nevares (1840), and an oil sketch depicting Saint Vincent Martyr Before Dacius (c. 1796). The painting was purchased through funds generously provided by Linda P. and William A. Custard; Jack and Gloria Hammack; Richard and Gwen S. Irwin; Natalie H. and George T. Lee, Jr.; Mildred M. Oppenheimer; and Catherine B. Taylor. These gifts are eligible for a $5 million matching challenge grant by The Meadows Foundation for the acquisition of Spanish art to enhance the Museum’s permanent collection. |
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