As part of the Portuguese season in France, the exhibition at the royal residence at Château d’Angers, dedicated by the Center des Monuments Nationaux to Portuguese maritime expansion in the Far East, features the spectacular tapestry of Tournai from the early 16th century. Awakening the arrival of Vasco de Gama in France India in 1498, it symbolized Europe’s vision of an idealized East.

From time immemorial for Europe, the Far East evoked a fantasy universe of luxury until the travel records (1271-1295) of the Venetian Marco Polo bear more direct testimony, though still marked by unrestrained imagination. In manuscript form and later in print, this bestselling book called, in French, “Le livre des marvels”, has made these mysterious distant lands, seen as lands of abundance, more accessible to the mind. In the 15th century, the idea of ​​avoiding caravan routes, hampered by Muslim advances, was then imposed on Portugal and to Spain seeking direct maritime access to the imaginary or real wealth of the East.

Two strong to share the world

Christopher Columbus, a reader of Marco Polo, has made a marginal note in the Latin edition of 1484 (printed in Gouda, Holland and kept in the Colombina Library in Seville): ” spices, pearls, precious stones, gold sheet, ivory “… As we know, this brave navigator later in the service of Isabella of Castile chose the western sea route and discovered the Americas, abandoning the expedition supported by the Portuguese rulers of exploration and later opening of the sea route by passing from Africa. Also signed in 1494 on the initiative of Pope Alexander VI between Portugal and Spain, the Treaty of Tordesillas formalized between these two powers the east/west division of the world along a defined meridian in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. After arriving in India in Calicut (Malabar Coast) on 21 May 1498, Vasco da Gama returned triumphantly to Lisbon in 1499 and the success of his journey had an enormous impact throughout Europe, following the strengthening of the line operated by Vasco da Gama on the occasion of the second trip and later by Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque, King Manuel I of Portugal launched the construction of is new royal land in Lisbon (Paco da Ribeira) worthy of his reign that changed world history.

An allegorical Orient

On a visual narrative level, the tapestry, due to its monumental dimensions and colorful universe, became an ideal vector for elevating Portuguese maritime adventures, resulting in intense commercial prosperity. To commemorate this founding act, the first tapestry in twenty-six panels ordered from the Tournai licensee was delivered to the palace of Ribeira in the early 16th century. The exhibition catalog highlights its history and recalls the existence of a derivative known as “In the way of Portugal and India” or “Voyage de Calcuce (Calicut)”.
Evoking Vasco da Gama’s arrival in India, the tapestries on display at the Château d’Angers testify to this European derivation of success. The original tapestry had disappeared in 1755 during the devastating earthquake in Lisbon, it is difficult, without preserved documentation, to appreciate the level of fidelity of the narrated episodes. His compositions support the narrative of scenes mixing medieval spirits separated in time and making abundant characters thrive outside the framework of scale architecture.

The Discord between Hector and Achilles, Tapestry of the Trojan War, 1472-1483, Zamora Cathedral, Spain © Connaissance des Arts

To the left lies the moment when the navigator, newly descended, delivered to the Calicut authorities a message of peace (one might think) from Manuel I. The faces, however, seem to emerge directly from the repertoire of figures collected by Tournai liciers, as shown , among other examples, by the tapestry of discord between Hector and Achille of the rug being cut into pieces (1472/1483). Trojan War. True to the moral medieval conception of the image willingly placed in relation to biblical texts, the right section explains the deep meaning of the tapestry by inviting, in contemporary costume, the mythical sister of Cumae, the Ancient prophetess who heralded the golden age, later linked with the triumph of Christianity.

Arrival of Vasco da Gama in Calicut (details), Tournai workshop, tapestry, early 16th century, 400 x 770 cm, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), Lisbon, Portugal © Paulo Cintra/Laura Castro Caldas – Caixa Geral de Depositos , Direção -Geral do Património Cultural Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC/ADF)

mythical unicorn

By uniting the two worlds that had been separated until then, Manuel I, the secret actor of the entire tapestry, was thus able to take on the rank of hero of Christianity. As it is fitting not to tarnish the beautiful writing of history by evoking the battles that accompanied, here and there, the Portuguese advance, a dispatched group of exotic animals amplifies the magnificent vision of the East with inexhaustible riches. “Billboards” would not be complete without the presence of the mythical unicorn, the mythical half-goat half-horse animal with long front horns, whose entire literature developed from Antiquity was responsible for explaining the strange powers vis–vis the male, at the time not it is known that the appendages of these tusks are cetacean teeth. Supposed to live of course in the East, the unicorn had been the subject in 1486 of a figuration engraved in a successful book by Bernhard von Breydenbach recounting his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the first travel book to be printed and illustrated in Europe. The 1500s would, moreover, mark the pinnacle of the mythical unicorn in decorative art via the famous hanging (Brussels?) Woman with Unicorn (Cluni Museum) and unicorn hunting (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art). Very slowly, from the late 16th century, however, the unicorn would leave mythology behind to reach the closet of curiosities and natural sciences. Oriental exotic inspiration, on the other hand, would continue to water European decorative arts for centuries to come.

Engraving from the French edition published in Lyon in 1488 by Michel Topie and Jacques Heremberck, ©Connaissance des Arts

HAVE

“World counter. Portuguese Feitorias, 15-17th centuries »
National domain of the castle of Angers 2 promenade du Bout du monde, 49100 Angers
www.chateau-angers.fr
from 9 June to 9 October

FOR READING

Comptoirs du monde, 15-17 century Portuguese feitorias, col. legacy edition/CMN, 12€