The Hunts of Maximilian: September, the Stag Takes to the Water at Groenendael
Bernard van Orley (cartoons), Dermoyen workshop (weaving) (c. 1488-1541) · c. 1531
Hoping to escape, the stag has thrown itself into a pond. Hunters call this moment the bat-l'eau, the beating of the water, and it is nearly always the end. Two hunters have already caught up with the animal, one of them gripping its antlers, and several hounds swim around them. On the bank the rest of the pack waits impatiently while noble riders enjoy the spectacle. Beyond the pond you can see the priory of Groenendael, bordered on the left by the hunting lodge of Ravenstein. The scales of Libra sit in the medallion of the upper border. Look for the reflections in the water and the spray around the struggling stag, effects that are difficult to achieve on a loom.
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. The set depicts the stag season month by month through real sites in the forest of Soignes, and this is its climax before the kill. It carries the Brussels mark and the mark of the weaver Dermoyen. From the French royal collections, it entered the museum in seventeen ninety-seven.
Did You Know? The hunting term for a stag plunging into a pond, the bat-l'eau, means beating the water.
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