The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries are a group of four magnificent "

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

", in fact probably made in

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

Artois Artois ( ; ; nl, Artesië; English adjective: ''Artesian'') is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km2 and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Dutch: ''Atrecht'') ...

, France, dating from around 1430 to 1450. These enormous works, each over 3 metres wide, depict men and women in fashionable dress of the early fifteenth century

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

in a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

. The tapestries formerly belonged to the

Dukes of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

, but in 1957 were accepted by HM Government in lieu of tax payable on the estate of the 10th Duke of Devonshire and allocated to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, where they remain. The 6th Duke described using his 'spare' tapestry to insulate the

Long Gallery In architecture, a long gallery is a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In Britain, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were normally placed on the highest reception floor of English country hous ...

Hardwick Hall Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is an architecturally significant country house from the Elizabethan era, a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Built between 1590 and 1597 for Bess of Hardwick, it was designed by the architect Ro ...

in the 1840s, a practice which saved these rare Gothic hangings from being discarded. The tapestries depict a ''Deer Hunt'', ''Falconry'', a ''Swan and Otter Hunt'' and a ''Boar and Bear Hunt''. The hunt was a particularly powerful theme and would have been a familiar pastime to many of the high-born individuals and families who owned tapestries. Hunting was both a stylized sport and an important source of the only meats considered noble. This detail is from the ''Boar and Bear Hunt'' Tapestry, made in the 1420s, and shows men carrying special

boar-spear A boar spear is a spear used for boar hunting. It is relatively short and heavy and has two " lugs" or "wings" on the spearsocket behind the blade, which act as a barrier to prevent the spear from penetrating too deeply into the quarry where it ...

s, which have cross-bars designed to stop the charge of the boar and keep its deadly

tusk Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with pigs and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. Tusks share c ...

s at arm's length. Much of the charm of these scenes lies in the elaborate costume detail. The lady crossing the stream on the lower right has 'Monte le Desire' inscribed on her flowing sleeve. This is the opening line of a popular song of the period. The practice of embellishing one's clothes with such words was a medieval equivalent of having a stylish slogan printed on a T-shirt except that, in the tapestry, weaving on a horizontal

loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...

has reversed the letters. The dress of the participants is of the type worn at court, particularly that of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, which had control of the tapestry-weaving areas in the

southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...

. It is unlikely that any serious hunting took place in such restricting and exotic clothes.

References

External links

View the Tapestries"The sign of the dog: an examination of the Devonshire hunting tapestries"
Ann Claxton, ''Journal of Medieval History'', Volume 14, Issue 2, 1988 {{tapestry Collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum Tapestries Animals in art Dogs in art Hunting in art Pigs in art