Tapestry; Oudenaarde, Belgium, ca. 1600.

Tapestry; Oudenaarde, Belgium, ca. 1600.
"Esponsales de David y Bestabé": History of David series.
Silk and wool.
Preserves lining.
Trimmed in the upper area.
Measurements: 309 x 524 cm.
The story of David and Bathsheba is part of the second book of Samuel (chapter XI) of the Book of Kings in the Old Testament. The book contains the details of David's reign as king of Judah and later as king of Israel. According to the biblical account, David fell in love with Bathsheba when he saw her while bathing on the terrace of her house. Although she was married to one of his soldiers, Uriah the Hittite, King David got Bathsheba pregnant. David tried to trick her husband by ordering him to return home and sleep with his wife, but he refused to do so while his companions were fighting. Finally, the king sent him to the first battlefield where he died. After the mourning, David and Bathsheba married, but, in punishment for his behavior, their first son died. The next son, Solomon, would succeed his father as king of Israel. In the tapestry, in the center of the composition we see the main group: David, Bathsheba and the priest officiating the ceremony. In the background, in the background, there are two scenes. One of a battle and another that could be the coronation of David as king of Israel. The border is characteristic of the tapestries of this period: floral and fruit elements alternating with female figures and couples conversing, playing music...
The tapestry, although unmarked, shows stylistic affinities with the production of Audenarde, a manufacturing center that already in the 16th century became the second great center of Flemish tapestry after Brussels. We know that in the year 1541 almost 73% of the active population worked in the textile industry, being the production very abundant, of which there are data that in the year 1552 65% was exported to the Iberian Peninsula. The Audenarde mark was obligatory from January 1545, but few tapestries bear it. The non-identification of the monograms of the manufactures is also something common in Audenarde since, although the archives of the XVI century provide numerous names of weavers, few tapestries can be put in relation with them, since most of the signatures of these are "signes" like a heart, a fleur-de-lis, a star... and the occasions in which they sign with their initials are scarce, which would facilitate their identification considerably.