The Hunts of Maximilian: March, the Falcon Hunt
Bernard van Orley (cartoons), Dermoyen workshop (weaving) (c. 1488-1541) · c. 1531
Spread across more than seven metres of wool and silk is the most complete view of sixteenth-century Brussels that exists. From left to right you can identify the old Coudenberg palace, the tower of the town hall in the centre, the tower of the former church of Saint Nicholas, and at the right the twin towers of Sainte-Gudule, today the cathedral of Saint Michael. In front stretches the palace park, where riders in an enclosure practise their games, and to the right lie a pond, vineyards and a reserve of stags and hinds. In the foreground, the imposing horseman dressed in red, with his unmistakable jutting profile, has often been identified as the Emperor Charles the Fifth. The ram in the medallion of the top border gives the zodiac sign of the month.
March opens the cycle because in Brussels, under the Julian calendar used until fifteen seventy-five, it was the first month of the year. The tapestry carries the Brussels city mark, two Bs flanking a shield, in the lower left selvedge and the mark of the weaver Guillaume Dermoyen at the right. From the royal collections, it entered the museum in seventeen ninety-seven.
Did You Know? The skyline behind the hunters is the earliest detailed panorama of Brussels, with the towers of Sainte-Gudule and the town hall still standing today.
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