Regent of the Netherlands, and executed between 1530 and 1541. Evelyn speaks of them as "designed by Raphael,"[1] under whom Van Orlay is supposed to have studied. The clearness and a certain simplicity in the designs may be said to show the influence of the great Umbrian. They are proved by marks to have been manufactured at Brussels. Their continuous connection with Hampton Court is traceable from the time of Henry VIII., in the inventory of whose possessions they are mentioned with the exact measurements, as "Tenne pieces of new arras of the Historie of Abraham." They are mentioned again by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1613, and when the property of Charles I. was valued in 1649, were estimated at, £10 a yard—in all £8260. They were taken for Cromwell's own use, and were seen at Hampton Court by Evelyn in 1662. This was the period of the greatest value of tapestry. James I. and Charles I. were both very fond of it, and generously supported the manufacture at
- ↑ "There is much in the style of Raphaelin the treatment of the subjects. One boy in particular appears to have stepped from the cartoon of the Beautiful Gate. Bernard van Orlay, who was a successful pupil of Raffaelle, was in the employment of Charles V., and was highly esteemed by that monarch. A peculiarity in his style of painting assimilated strongly to the richness of these hangings, and he very usually painted his subjects on a gilt ground. He was also employed by the Prince of Nassau to paint cartoons for tapestry. He has been frequently called Bernard of Brussels. It is more probable that the two B.'s worked on the edge belong to the director of the loom than to the designer, or they might seem to confirm the idea that these tapestries came from the Imperial Court.'"—Jesse, "A Summer's Day at Hampton Court," p. 25.
