Triumph of Fame
The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has the only fully preserved Triumphs of Petrarch tapestry series. The Triumph of Fame over Death tapestry from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is the closest in composition and content to the pieces from this series.
The series of tapestries was produced in the early 16th century in one of the weaving centres in the Southern Netherlands, probably at Tournai. The depictions of the triumphs of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time and Eternity gave the artists the opportunity to show an eclectic mix of different religious, historical and mythological characters. Many of these figures, such as Jason or Perseus, in turn provided subjects for the following series of tapestries. Undoubtedly, the authors of the cartoons for these series were leading artists working in the southern Netherlands at the beginning of the 16th century. The tapestries on subjects from Petrarch's Triumphs became particularly popular and well known around 1510.
Triumph of Love
Triumph of Chastity over Love
Tiumph of Death over Chastity
Triumph of Fame over Death
Triumph of Time
Triumph of Eternity
It is believed that the first time themes from Petrarch's "Triumphs" were used for tapestries was in 1399, when wall carpets with compositions based on the "Triumphs" were woven for King Philip II. In the middle of the XV century, a series of tapestries with the same subjects was made for Giovanni de' Medici. A new wave of interest of customers to the work of Petrarch rose around 1500 when several series of wall carpets on the theme of the "Triumphs" by Petrarch were woven at once. The series of tapestries "Triumphs of Petrarch" can be found in the inventories of many European courts. One of them was made in 1504 for Isabella I, Queen of Spain. The Triumph of Glory tapestry from this series was recently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is believed that subsequent series of tapestries, including those for Kings Henry VIII and Louis XII, were woven under the influence of Isabella I's Triumphs of Petrarch series of cartoons.
Research
Technical and technological research is nesessary before conservation. During microscopic examinations, we examine the parameters of the sampled threads, their nature and state of preservation. High-performance liquid chromatography and molecular spectroscopy are used to determine the nature of the dyes used in the dyeing of the fibres and threads. The results are taken into account in the designing the conservation programme.
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