In the records of the Medici tapestry workshops an entry of 21 October 1560 notes that 'Giovanni della Strada Fiammingo' was credited with the cartoons of the <i>Life of Man</i>, made to the instructions and designs of Giorgio Vasari and woven as tapestries by Squilli, probably for refurbishment of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence for Duke Cosimo I Medici; they were to hang in the Duke's winter dining room. The initial designs were drawn by Giorgio Vasari in 1559, the working cartoons were painted by Giovanni Stradanus and the tapestries were woven by the Florentine workshop of Benedetto Squilli from 1562 onwards - completed in 1565 (Campbell, p.503). Of fourteen tapestries, only four surviving tapestries can be identified: one in the V&A Museum; one in the Deposito del Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa; one in the Mobilier National, Paris and the fourth in Musée National de la Reniassance, Ecouen.
Historical significance: Tapestry production in Italy during 1520 to1560 saw the establishment of new workshops in the hope that Italian products might be cheaper than Netherlandish import; there was a vision of a native industry that might eventually compete with the workshops of Brussels. However, most Italian ateliers were short-lived and their distance from the main Netherlandish centres and their use of designs made by artists who worked in the mainstream of Italian style, rather than in the Netherlandish tradition, guaranteed that their products were among the most innovative of the periods. Due to the extensive use of metallic oxides in their dyes, which is especially destructive to wools and silks, the tapestries were more prone to deterioration than their Netherlandish counterparts.
This tapestry is a fine example of the Mannerist style of palace decoration.
ecrm:P3_has_note
In the records of the Medici tapestry workshops an entry of 21 October 1560 notes that 'Giovanni della Strada Fiammingo' was credited with the cartoons of the <i>Life of Man</i>, made to the instructions and designs of Giorgio Vasari and woven as tapestries by Squilli, probably for refurbishment of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence for Duke Cosimo I Medici; they were to hang in the Duke's winter dining room. The initial designs were drawn by Giorgio Vasari in 1559, the working cartoons were painted by Giovanni Stradanus and the tapestries were woven by the Florentine workshop of Benedetto Squilli from 1562 onwards - completed in 1565 (Campbell, p.503). Of fourteen tapestries, only four surviving tapestries can be identified: one in the V&A Museum; one in the Deposito del Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa; one in the Mobilier National, Paris and the fourth in Musée National de la Reniassance, Ecouen.
Historical significance: Tapestry production in Italy during 1520 to1560 saw the establishment of new workshops in the hope that Italian products might be cheaper than Netherlandish import; there was a vision of a native industry that might eventually compete with the workshops of Brussels. However, most Italian ateliers were short-lived and their distance from the main Netherlandish centres and their use of designs made by artists who worked in the mainstream of Italian style, rather than in the Netherlandish tradition, guaranteed that their products were among the most innovative of the periods. Due to the extensive use of metallic oxides in their dyes, which is especially destructive to wools and silks, the tapestries were more prone to deterioration than their Netherlandish counterparts.
This tapestry is a fine example of the Mannerist style of palace decoration.