Tapestry Triumph of Scipio: Scipio Giving a Crown to Laelius

Artist: Workshop of Heinrich Mattens
Title: Triumph of Scipio:  Scipio Giving a Crown to Laelius
Date: c. 1600
Medium: Silk, wool, gold and silver thread
Dimensions: 15' 6" x 13' 6"
Accession number: MSA SC 4680-30-0004

This tapestry is one of a series of twenty-two taperstries entitled The Triumph of Scipio. The tapestries visually recount the achievements of the Roman statesman and general "Scipio Africanus" (Publius Cornelis Scipio, 236-183 B.C.) during the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. This tapestry depicts Scipio sitting on a throne and presenting a mural crown to Gaius Laelius for his succesful military actions against the Carthaginians. Roman officers and lictors are also depicted in this scene as well as the army in the background.

Italian Renaissance artist Giulio Romano (1499-1546) created the drawings that served as the basis for the initial tapestries, which were woven in 1536. That series was so popular that several copies were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including one woven for King Charles I of Spain about 1600 in the Brussels workshop of Heinrich Mattens. This particular set was eventually broken up and media magnate William Randolph Hearst bought two tapestries from the set (this one and Scipio Giving a Crown to Laelius) in 1910; these were presented to the Peabody Institute by the Hearst Foundation in 1961. They are among the finest Renaissance tapestries in the United States.

© Copyright October 06, 2022 Maryland State Archives