The tapestry depicts Ovid's version of the mythical story of the wicked Niobe. Proud of her divine origins and even more of her numerous offspring, Niobe induced the Thebans to leave out a sacrifice to Latona who had given birth only to Apollo and Diana, proposing the cult of her own person. Two other tapestries, also preserved in the collection of Palazzo Rele, are produced with this cloth, the first with Diana the huntress (Sala degli Arazzi) and the second with Diana with Oto and Ephialte (Sala delle Adienze). As demonstrated by the brand and the monograms woven along the selvedge, the three tapestries were made in Paris at the beginning of the seventeenth century in the so-called boutique d'or, the most important of the factories of the production complex activated in 1607 by Frans van den Planken, Frenchized in François de La Planche.
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Details
Title:The impiety of Niobe
Author:
François de la Planche
Date:1607-1610
Technique:Tapestry wool, silk, silver thread and gilded silver on a silk core