Page 148 - El arte del poder

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The Meeting of Scipio and Hannibal
Fourth panel of the Story of Scipio
Tapestry weaver unknown; cartoons by Giulio Romano, painter; Giovanni Francesco Penni, painter
Brussels, Brabant, c. 1544
Silk and wool; 485 x 806 cm
Patrimonio Nacional. Madrid, Palacio Real, inv. no. TA. 26/5, 10005900
bibliography: Catálogo de la Exposición Histórico-Europea 1892- 1893, sala II, nos. 1-6; Junquera and Herrero 1986, pp. 176-184; Herrero 1991, pp. 68-73; Herrero 1992, pp. 81-86; Herrero 1994, pp. 97-102; Campbell 2002, p. 345, fig. 151
On account of his reputation as an exemplary warrior and statesman, Scipio Africanus (according to Livy and Valerius Maximus) is among the figures from ancient history who embody moral qualities and provide role models for monarchs. Other examples are Romulus, first king of Rome; Octavian Augustus, first emperor of Rome; Trajan, the emperor of Spanish origin who exemplified Justice; and Alexander the Great, Cyrus, and Croesus, embodiments of boldness and fortune.
The editio princeps of the Story of Scipio series commissioned in 1532 by Francis I of France consisted of a total of twenty-two panels illustrating the conquests and triumph of the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio (234 BC-183 BC) against the Carthaginian army commanded by Hannibal during the Second Punic War, according to the History of Rome by Livy (59 BC-17 AD) and the Roman History of Appianus (95 AD). Listed according to the succession of events in the literary sources, its panels illustrated the passages entitled Combat at the Ticinus, Capture of New Carthage, Scipio’s Mercy, Surrender of the Crowns, Continence of Scipio, Battle on the Plateau of Baecula, Dinner at the House of Syphax, Palisaded Camp of Hasdrubal, Arrival in Africa, Fire at the Camp, Reception of the Carthaginian Envoy, Meeting of Scipio and Hannibal, Battle of Zama, and seven scenes of the triumph of Scipio: Arrival at the Capitol, Procession of Oxen and Elephants, Chiefs of the Prisoners, Procession of Secretaries, Servants, and Courtiers, Crowned Soldiers and Knights, Scipio’s Chariot and The Banquet.
The seven-piece re-edition, acquired in 1544 by Charles V’s sister Mary of Austria, queen of Hungary (1505-1558), from the Antwerp merchant Erasme Schatz, and inherited by her nephew Philip II, is the oldest surviving set, as the original series belonging to Francis I was destroyed in 1797 during the French
Revolution. The compositions are a faithful rendering of the preparatory drawings executed in 1528 by Giulio Romano (in the Albertina, Vienna) and his disciple Giovanni Francesco Penni, for the weaving of Francis I’s editio princeps at the Brussels manufactory of the Vander Moyen.
The tapestry set belonging to the Spanish royal household displays a weaver’s monogram in the form of a lamp or small boat that has yet to be deciphered on the panel entitled The Romans Penetrate Hasdrubal’s Palisaded Camp. The monogram has also been attributed to the dealer Schatz, who acted as an intermediary between the Brussels manufactory and Queen Mary. The only tapestry displaying the Brussels Brabant mark on the lower selvage is the Battle of Zama.
Mary of Hungary’s set illustrates five episodes from the Second Punic War (Capture of Carthage, Continence of Scipio, The Romans Penetrate Hasdrubal’s Palisaded Camp, Meeting of Scipio and Hannibal, and Battle of Zama) and only two scenes from the Triumph of Scipio (Procession of Oxen and Elephants and The Banquet), narrated in book eight of Appianus’s Roman History. The seven tapestries, inventoried between 1555 and 1558 by Rogier Patie, treasurer to the queen, were bequeathed, as indicated by a marginal annotation in the inventory, to her nephew Philip II and thereafter remained linked to the tapestry collection of the Spanish Crown.
There is a preparatory drawing by Giulio Romano of the present Meeting of Scipio and Hannibal in the Cabinet des Estampes of the Bibliotèque Nationale de France (Est. Réservé. B5) and a petit patron in the Cabinet des Dessins of the Musée du Louvre (inv. no. 3719). The scene shows the moment while Hannibal, aware of the superiority of the Roman army, decides to plead for peace before the battle, which proves to be decisive, while his forces are still intact. He therefore requests a meeting with Scipio, which takes place at Narragasa, near Zama, but the leaders fail to reach an agreement.
Scipio and Hannibal, backed by their armies and separated by a river, exchange messages. The elephants heading the Carthaginian army and, on a smaller scale, the cavalry in the background, stand out powerfully. In the foreground, on the left, Scipio, crowned in a laurel wreath and bearing the SPQR standard, signals with his arm to the Carthaginian, addressing him. The prominent figure of a bearded old man leaning on a sea lion behind a fanciful animal in the foreground on the right is a witness to the interview and a personification of the river.
The border of volutes, candelieri, griffons, and carved gilt frame over a blue background is similar to that framing the panels of the Story of Moses series, also woven for Mary of Hungary at the Brussels workshop of Joost van Herselle. c.h.c.
armors as works of art and the image of power 147