by Louis Dubreuil
I've just returned from a little journey in Madrid. The city has very interesting museums. Especially, the Museum of the Prado, Museum Tyssen, and Reine Sofia Museum (modern art), with plenty of paintings by all the masters.
I have made a selection of 14th to 17th century paintings that show carpets and weavings, and superficially identified the possible origin of those weavings. I leave the pleasure of commenting on the pictures and the rugs that are on them to the Turkotek community. For each painting there is a general view and some enlarged details. The paintings appear in chronological order.
1) MAESTRO DE LA MADONA DELLA MISERICORDIA
Saint Eloy in the Goldsmith's Workshop; 1370;
Anatolian rug with early animal design
2) PAOLO DE SAN LEOCADIO
The Virgin of Knight of Montesa; 1472/1476;
fine Anatolian carpet with Holbein design, under a darker unidentified mat.
3) FERNANDO YANEZ DE LA ALMENDINA
Santa Catalina; 1510; nice cloth with Anatolian design and kufic borders
4) SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
Portrait of Ferry Carondelet with his Secretaries; 1510/1512; nice
Anatolian carpet on the table, with kufic borders
5) ANONIMO VENECIANO
The Last Supper; 1570;
Anatolian carpet with cross border under the white table cloth
6) RUBENS AND BRUEGHEL DE VELOURS
A serie of five paintings depicting the senses. A carpet
enhances the main figures in each of them.
6a) Hearing; 1617/1618; Persian carpet under the main figures
6b) Vision; 1617; Persian carpet on the table
6c) Taste; 1618; Anatolian (?) carpet under the table cloth
6d) Touch; 1617/1618; Persian carpet under the main figures
6e) Taste/Hearing/Touch; 1618(?); Persian carpet under the table
7) JUAN BAUTISTA MAINO
Rendition of the Bahia of all the Saints; 1634/1635; big Persian
rug under the feet of the main figures
8) WILLEM KALF
Still life; 1660;
Persian carpet draped on the table
9) GERARD TER BORCH
Portrait of a Man Reading a Koran; 1675;
Anatolian (?) carpet
