The Hunts of Maximilian: December, the Boar Hunt near the Château des Trois Fontaines
Bernard van Orley (cartoons), Dermoyen workshop (weaving) (c. 1488-1541) · c. 1531
The whole composition is dominated by the foreground, where a rider armed with a characteristic hunting sword, his leg protected by a metal greave, prepares to face an enormous boar. The animal has dragged hunters and dogs through woods stripped bare by winter, in the background, and now turns to face them in fury. One greyhound already lies torn open on the ground; two others, one wearing a padded coat called a jaque, cling to the beast's back. Three hunters on foot rush forward with boar spears to help the fearless horseman. The goat of Capricorn sits in the medallion of the upper border. Look at the boar's bristling back and small furious eye, and at the sword held low for the thrust.
The tapestry is one of the twelve Hunts of Maximilian, woven in Brussels around fifteen thirty-one after cartoons by Bernard van Orley in wool, silk and silver and gilt thread. It bears the mark of the weaver Guillaume Dermoyen in the lower right selvedge. The scene is set near the Château des Trois Fontaines in the forest of Soignes. From the French royal collections, the set entered the museum in seventeen ninety-seven.
Did You Know? One of the hounds attacking the boar wears a padded coat, a jaque, to protect it from the tusks.
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