Title

Spanish Saints (fragment)

Generic classification

Object

Date

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Inscriptions / Marks

In the scrolls, in the top row, left to right:

ARCHIEP[ISCOPU]S TOLETAN(US] (Archibishop of Toledo)

VALERI[US] EP[ISCOPU]S CESARAGUSTA|NUS] (Valerius, bishop of Zaragoza)

CUES' [?] ABBAS OVI[TEN]SI, C (Abbot of Oviedo)

In the middle row, left to right:

FULGE[N]CI[US] EP[ISCOPU]S TIGITAN[US] (Fulgencius, bishop of Astigi, Écija)

D[OM]INCUS ABBAS SILE[N]SSIS (Dominicus, abbot de Silos)

FROILLAN[US] EP[ISCOPU]S LEGION[ENSIS] (Froilan, bishop of León) y SMCUS ABBAS

In the bottom row, left to right:

YSIDOR[US],ARCHIEP[ISCOPU]S YSPALE[N]SIS (Isidoro, Archibishop of Seville)

JULIAN[US] POMERI[US] ARCHIEP[ISCOPU]S TOLETAN[US] (Julián Pomerio, archbishop of Toledo) y STAN?

At the base of the panel: QUI IN HISPANIA NATION SUNT

Object history

True treasures of the visual arts, far more valued than paintings until the 18th century, tapestries fell out of favour in the following century and were frequently destroyed entirely or, as in the case at hand, cut into pieces. The decline in appreciation for tapestries is closely tied to their consideration as a mechanical art, manufactured and reproduced from designs known as cartoons. The Enlightenment emphasised the uniqueness of painting, which became the foremost of the Fine Arts, while tapestries, once extremely costly, were relegated in importance. The price of the materials used in a work of art now mattered less than the creativity behind it. A shift in mentality had occurred, and tapestries were seen as obsolete and occupying too much space. Disregarded, they soon deteriorated, and were often divided into sections that could serve some practical purpose in specific locations, as they had lost their aesthetic value.

The fragment held in The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is an example of the treatment of tapestries since the 19th century, a trend that has only been reversed in recent decades. Originating from the bequest of Hélène Irwin Fagan, it has been part of the museum's collection since 1975. Hélène Irwin Crocker Fagan acquired the fragment in 1925 from French and Company, who likely purchased it at the auction held at the Hotel Drouot in Paris between 27 and 30 April 1875. Up to this point, the history seems clear, but when we delve deeper, questions arise.

It is known that Juana Enríquez, wife of King John II of Aragon and mother of Ferdinand II of Aragon, owned a tapestry of the Saints of Spain, and that Isabella I of Castile had another, which was inventoried among her belongings at the castle of Segovia in 1503. It could be the same tapestry that had belonged to her mother-in-law, as upon her death in 1468, her belongings passed to her husband, and when he died in 1479, they were inherited by Ferdinand II of Aragon. It is likely that the King of Aragon gifted it to his wife, as one of the two shipments he made to the Royal Chapel of Granada in July 1505 detailed: 'A cloth depicting the Saints of Spain and Our Lady in the centre, with the Child in her arms, made of much silk without gold, ten long varas in length and five varas in height.' In 1536, the first known inventory of the works belonging to the Royal Chapel mentions the existence of a 'cloth of the Saints of Spain.'

Regardless of conjecture about its ownership, it is certain that it did not leave the treasury of Isabella I of Castile in 1503, as suggested in the record of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, nor was it sent to the Royal Chapel in that year, as the chapel did not yet exist, nor was its location even determined. After the queen's death on 24 November 1504, and in fulfilment of her will, which empowered her husband to build and endow the Royal Chapel, King Ferdinand opted to send twenty-two tapestries in two batches throughout 1505, in March and July. In the second shipment, the tapestry of the Saints of Spain is documented, as recorded in a document signed by the King of Aragon in Segovia on 22 July 1505, when it was delivered with ten other tapestries to the Royal Chaplain Martín Velázquez to be 'taken to the said Royal Chapel of Granada.'

The original tapestry has not only been preserved in this fragment. Another part exists in the Mascort Collection in Barcelona (77 x 214 cm), which depicts the heads of an abbess, a martyr, and a saint. This tapestry must have been made for John II of Castile or his son, Henry IV, as it bears the coat of arms of Castile, although the quarters are reversed (the castle should be in the first quarter, and the lion in the second) due to its having been woven on a low-warp loom, which did not account for the mirror image of the cartoon. The design, by its style, was likely the work of a painter from the Tournai school, where it was probably manufactured in the mid-15th century. While it is not impossible that Isabella I of Castile and her mother-in-law owned tapestries woven from the same cartoon, this seems unlikely. If Juana Enríquez had commissioned it, it would bear her coat of arms, which, though featuring the castle and lion (as her lineage was royal), would be arranged differently (the Enríquez coat of arms is mantel-shaped with a red field in the first and second quarters showing a gold castle, and in the silver mantle, a blue rampant lion).

There is no doubt that the descriptions correspond to the fragments in The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Mascort Collection, and that it was one of the tapestries sent by Ferdinand the Catholic to the Royal Chapel. In an inventory from 1737, a tapestry of 'the Saints of Spain and Our Lady in the centre' is still recorded, but by 1777 it no longer appears, and no mention is made of any tapestry in subsequent accounts of the foundation of the Catholic Monarchs. They must have deteriorated, and the lack of interest in tapestries did not ensure their preservation, leading to their eventual loss. It appears that the painter Mariano Fortuny acquired some fragments of tapestries that the Royal Chapel had put up for sale in 1871. Among these, the San Francisco fragment has been identified, listed as item number 140 among the artist's belongings sold at the Hotel Drouot in Paris in 1875. Catalogued as a Spanish tapestry from the late 15th century, it was specified that 'This panel depicts Spanish pontiffs and abbots, according to the legend at the top of the tapestry and the names on their garments. This piece appears to be an ex-voto.' Valued at 340 francs, although it is not mentioned that the tapestry was fragmented, it seems unlikely that it was divided later, with another part ending up in the Mascort Collection. It is plausible that when Fortuny acquired the fragment now in San Francisco, someone, perhaps Fortuny himself, also obtained the part now held in the Mascort Collection.

Description

In this tapestry fragment, nine saints are depicted, each crowned with a halo and holding a staff. Seven of them wear a mitre, a distinctive symbol of church prelates. Their luxurious garments, adorned with precious stones, along with the large brooches fastening their cloaks, emphasize their elevated status.

Locations

• pre. 1468 - ca. XV^th c.

  treasure

  Juana Enríquez, wife of Juan II, King of Aragon, Tarragona (Spain)

• ca. 1475 - 1505

  palace

  Alcazar of Segovia, Segovia (Spain)

• 1505 - 1871

  church

  Royal Chapel, Granada (Spain)

• 1871 - 1875

  private collection

  Mariano Fortuny y Marsal Collection, Granada (España) / Roma (Italia) *

• 1875

  auction house

  Hotel Drouot, Paris (France)

• XVIII^th c. - ca. 1925

  dealer/antiquarian

  French & Company, New York (United States) *

• post. 1925 - 1975

  private collection

  Hélène Irwin Crocker Fagan Collection, Hillsborough (United States) *

• 1975 - present

  museum

  The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco (United States)