Tapestry: Fox Hunt
Author: Unknown
Origin: Brussels, Flanders
Dating: 17th century
Material: Wool & Silk
Dimensions (cm): 262 x 301
Inv. no.: PD0163
«The tapestry depicts a hunting scene featuring the goddess Diana or Artemis. She was the twin sister of Apollo, and they both symbolize light: while Apollo is the sun, the light of day, Diana shines as the moon when her brother disappears. They were the children of Jupiter and Latona (goddess of twilight and motherhood). Fearing the pains of childbirth that she witnessed in her mother, she asked Jupiter to preserve her virginity forever. Jupiter armed her with bow and arrows and made her queen of the woods. He gave her a retinue of 80 nymphs, virgins like herself.
In the tapestry, the goddess appears with her bow and quiver – without her nymphs, who are replaced by two male figures: the one on her right, holding an arrow in a firing position, could be identified as her twin brother Apollo, as he is also depicted with arrows, signifying the rays of the sun that dart across the earth. Thus, as twins, Apollo accompanies his sister Diana on her hunt. To Diana’s left, a figure in a red cloak leads a pair of dogs. The trumpeter, in full performance, is accompanied by someone who, along with him and another figure between two tree trunks, may have the function of creating a barrier to prevent the fox from escaping in that direction.»
Eduardo Magalhães
“Music in the Palace’s Collections”
«In this tapestry, themed around hunting, the presence of a horn is only natural. The hunting horn depicted in the tapestry is a French horn, created in the late 17th century (1680) and a direct predecessor of the modern natural horn. It is a metal horn, coiled into one to three circles, with the bell facing upwards. The horn in the tapestry features only one coil of tubing.»
Eduardo Magalhães
