In 1972 Mrs Josa Finney gave to the Museum in memory of her late husband Oswald James Finney seven Brussels tapestries with a common theme. These were the Art of War tapestries which Mr Finney had collected from different sources. Among his seven purchases were five Art of War tapestries from one of the leading sets of this series, made by Judocus de Vos for Augustus the Strong of Saxony, an opponent of the Duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession who, by a quirk of fate, purchased around 1718-20 a set of tapestries which included the figures of Marlborough and his officers at their moment of greatest triumph winning the Battle of Blenheim. The five tapestries which Mr Finney purchased from the Saxony set included the subjects of The March, The Siege, The Ambush, The Camp, and Cutting Fascines. To these he added two more pieces from the same set of cartoons, though not from the same set, Pillage and The Halt. Besides their importance as an appreciable augmentation of our early 18th century Brussels tapestries, these pieces give a fascinating picture of warfare and campaigning at the time of the War of the Spanish Succession.
All seven tapestries were displayed in 1973-75, and five featured in an exhibition entitled War and Peace in 1977, and were shown again in the following year. Unfortunately lack of space in this exhibition prevents the present display of more than two piece, for the proportions of this magnificent gift would exclude most of the other exhibits. [October 1980]