July

Textiles

before 1528

After a design by an unidentified Flemish artist in the circle of Bernard van Orley (c. 1488–1541)
Brussels

This tapestry and its companion, February, belong to the earliest of the four Medallion Months suites known today. The 12 months of the year were an extremely popular subject for tapestry cycles. In this particular series, each hanging has a rectangular, vertical format; a central mythological figure; an oval band depicting the signs of the zodiac, personifications of the hours, and other symbols of the passage of time; as well as figural compositions outside the medallion, in the four corners of the tapestry. The zodiac sign Leo at the top of the medallion band, with the inscription JVLIVS (July) below, reveals this tapestry’s subject. The inscription RVMANA CONCINE appears on either side of the central deity, identifying her as Runcina, goddess of mowing and harvesting. The grotesque figures outside the medallion personify diseases believed to be caused by the star Sirius, which appears during the canicula, or dog days, of summer.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Artists: Circle of Bernard van Orley , Bernard van Orley
Title: July, July from The Medallion Months
Places: Flanders (Object made in:), Brussels (Object made in:)
Date: Made 1500-1528
Medium: Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave Warp: Count: varies from 8 to 10 warps per cm; wool; S-ply of six Z-spun elements; diameters: 0.4–0.7 mm Weft: Count: varies from 22 to 44 wefts per cm; wool: S-ply of two Z-spun elements; S-ply of three Z-spun elements; pairs of S-ply of two Z-spun elements; diameters: 0.2–1.0 mm; silk; pairs of S-ply of two Z-twisted elements; three yarns of S-ply of two Z-twisted elements; diameters; 0.15–0.5 mm
Inscriptions: JVLIVS; RVMANA CONCINE; PESTILENCE; QVINANCIE; FEBRES; PLEVRESIS
Dimensions: 399.7 × 448.3 cm (157 3/8 × 176 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Chauncey McCormick and Mrs. Richard Ely Danielson
Reference Number: 1950.1579
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/73059/manifest.json

Joseph Destree, Tapisseries et sculptures bruxelloises a l’Exposition d’art ancien bruxellois organisee a Bruxelles au Cercle artistique et litteraire de juillet a octobre 1905, exh. cat, (G. van Oest, 1906) vol. 1, 40-41, n. 19; vol. 2, table 7.
J. Breck, “The Juilliard Tapestries,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15, no. 1 (Jan. 1920): 3.
Heinrich Gobel, Die Niederlande, vol. 1 of Wandteppiche (Klinkhardt und Biermann, 1923), 166-67, vol. 2 table 146.
Phillis Ackerman, Tapestry, a Mirror of Civilization (Oxford University Press, 1933), 380, n. 15.
Robert B. Harshe and Daniel Catton Rich, Handbook of the House, Formal Gardens and Foundation of Vizcaya: An Italian Palazzo in a Tropical Setting, Home of the Late James Deering, Deering Plaza, Miami, Florida (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), 7.
Edith A. Standen, “Drawings for the ‘Months of Lucas’ Tapestry Series,” Master Drawings 9 (Spring 1971): 13, n. 15.
John David Farmer, “A Painting of the Pentecost by Bernard van Orley,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 67, no. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1973): 19 (ill.).
Edith A. Standen, “Studies in the History of Tapestry 1520-1790,” Apollo 114, no. 322 (July 1981): 25.
Edith A. Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 1 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985), 45.
Piero Boccardo, Andrea Doria e le arti: committenza e mecenat ismo a Genova (Palombi, 1989), 79, 86, n. 21.
Candace J. Adelson, European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1994), 87, 90, nn. 28, 30, fig. 37.
Thurman, Christa C. Mayer and Koenraad Brosens, “Flemish Tapestries in the Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.” In Flemish Tapestry in European and American Collections: Studies in Honour of Guy Delmarcel, ed. Koenraad Brosens, 171-184. Brepols Publishers, 2003.
Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis and Hillie Smit, eds., European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum. Catalogues of teh Decorative Arts in the Rijksmuseums, Amsterdam 5 (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum/Waanders, 2004), 71.
Jean Vittet, “Les tapisseries de Michel Particelli d’Hemery et de son genere Louis Phelypeaux de La Vrilliere.” In Objets d’art” Melanges en l’honneur de Daniel Alcouffe (Faton, 2004), 176.
Piero Boccardo, “Le ‘tapezzarie finissime di Fiandra’ a Genova nel Cinqueccento.” In Genova e l’Europa atlantica: Opere, artisti, committenti, collezionisti: Inghilterra, Fiandre, Portogallo, ed. by Piero Boccarod, Clario Di Fabi, and Gianluca Ameri (Silvana, 2006), 113, 130, n. 2.
Koenraad Brosens, ed., Christa C. Mayer Thurman, gen. ed., European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat., [exhibition: “The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago”] (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2008) 82-93, cat. 9B (ill.).

Brussels, Exposition d’Art Ancien Bruxellois, 1905.
Art Institute of Chicago, Regenstein Hall, The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestry, Nov. 1, 2008–Jan. 4, 2009.

Possibly Marie Particelli (died 1670), Hôtel La Vrillière, Paris, by 1672; possibly by descent to her husband, Louis Phélypeaux de La Vrillière (died 1681), to at least 1684. Polycarpe Charles Séchan (with August and October [now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York] and September [now in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts]), to 1875; sold Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Feb. 22-27 and Mar. 1-4, 1875, lot 906 (with August, October, and September), to Dreyfus de Gonzales; sold, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 1-4, 1896, lot 252. Jacques Seligmann, by 1905; sold, Galerie George Petit, Paris, Mar. 16-17, 1914, lot 223, to Lehmann Bernheimer, Munich; sold to James Deering (died 1925), Vizcaya, Miami, June 18, 1914; by descent to his nieces, Mrs. Chauncey McCormick (born Marion Deering, died 1965) and Mrs. Ely Danielson (born Barbara Deering, died 1982); given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1950

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