Irish Arts Review
Weaving Heaven and EarthAuthor(s): Máire ByrneSource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 23, 175th Anniversary of the Office of Public Works(2006), pp. 18-21Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25503512 .
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'I'
2
Weaving MAIRE BYRNE discusses the treasured 17th-century
Since the purchase of Farmleigh by the Irish
Government in 1999, the OPW has been the
custodian of a rare set of 17th-century Italian
embroidered wall hangings. Currently on loan
from the Guinness family, the four panels form an inte
gral part of the interior decoration in the dining room
at Farmleigh. The iconography of the panels reveals that
the panels were once part of two larger sets. Most inter
estingly a matching panel exists in the collection of the
State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
Measuring approximately fourteen feet by nine feet,
these large hangings portray mythological subjects.
Each of the four panels depicts a god in a chariot viewed
from a terrace through a decorative architectural
framework. The terraces are populated with creatures
that in some cases are associated with the god shown
above. Three of the mythological figures are readily
identifiable as the gods Venus, Jupiter and Saturn
through a number of conventional attributes sourced in
ancient classical literature and formally established in
the writings of Cesare Ripa (cl 560-1625).
Venus, goddess of love (Fig 5), is seated in a chariot
drawn by a pair of doves. She carries the three golden
apples awarded to her by Paris and a quiver of arrows, a
reference to her son Cupid, a minor god of love. A pair
of lovers forms a charming vignette on the rear of her car
riage. On the terrace a rabbit and two pigeons symbolise
fertility and love, characteristics associated with Venus.
A youthful Jupiter stands in a chariot drawn by
eagles (Fig 7). He carries a staff and thunderbolts,
emblems of his supreme authority as god of gods. The
hog on the left of the terrace refers to mythology sur
rounding Jupiter who was suckled after birth by a sow,
the sow and the hog becoming sacred to Jupiter there
after. The creature on the right is most likely an ostrich
although its association with Jupiter is uncertain (Fig 6).
Saturn is depicted conventionally as a bearded elderly
man in a chariot drawn by a pair of winged dragons. The
scythe in his left hand refers to the mutilation of Uranus
by his son Cronus, the Greek god identified with Saturn
(Fig 2). The child in his right hand refers to the story of
how Saturn/Cronus devoured his children in order to
prevent them challenging his authority in the future.
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175 OPW
The Office of Public Works Oifig na nOibreacha Poibli
Heaven and Earth Italian wall hangings currently on display in the dining room at Farmleigh
The graphic signs or sigils that appear above the
heads of the gods in the Venus, Jupiter and Saturn pan
els are enormously significant. Those on the Venus and
Jupiter panels are the conventional astrological sigils
familiar to us in modern astrology and associated with
the planets of the same name. The more obscure sigil
accompanying Saturn has been traced in an alchemical
text published in Nuremburg in 1701. It symbolises
lead, the metal associated with Saturn.1 Since the
Middle Ages astrology and alchemy were closely linked,
and the sigils denoting the planets and their associated
metals were interchangeable. The crossover between
these disciplines explains the use of this particular sigil
on the Saturn panel. Again the writings of Cesare Ripa
are essential in interpreting meaning in the panels. His
Iconolog?a of 1593, the illustrated version of which was
published in 1603, quickly became the preferred icono
graphical handbook for artists in the 17th century.
Ripa requires that the correct astrological sigil be
included in representations of the planetary gods. The
appearance of these sigils on the embroideries confirms
the subject matter of the panels as the Carri dei Sette
Pianeti and suggests that the panels were part of a larg
er set depicting the Triumphs of the Seven Planetary
Gods -
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Apollo
(the sun) and Diana (the moon).
The link between the iconography of the Farmleigh
panels and Ripa's Iconolog?a is even more apparent in
the identification of the goddess in the fourth panel
(Fig 1). A bejewelled black female, wearing a headdress
formed from the trunk of an elephant, rides in a char
iot drawn by a pair of lions. She holds a cornucopia in
her right hand and a scorpion in her left. A snake curls
out from behind her right arm. This goddess reflects
all of the elements prescribed in Ripa's own woodcut
for a personification of Africa, as one of the Four Parts
of the World. It seems that the Africa panel was origi
nally part of another set depicting the Four Parts of the
World, a popular theme in late 17th-century art.
The Farmleigh panels were purchased
at auction in
April 1874 by Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927), 1st
Earl of Iveagh. This sale at Christie, Manson ck Woods
in London consisted of an important collection of
decorative objects from the Madrid palaces of the
Marquis Jos? de Salamanca y Mayol (1811-1883). A
noted businessman and politician, Salamanca had pur
chased the Palacio de Vista Alegre on the outskirts of
Madrid from the Spanish royal family in 1859. Maria
Cristina of the Two Sicilies (1806-1878) constructed
this palace in 1833 when she became Queen Regent
after the death of her husband King Ferdinand VII
(1784-1833) of Spain. A cloth label, found at Farmleigh in 1999, records information provided by the 1st Lady
Iveagh, Adelaide Maria Guinness (1844-1916), con
cerning the embroidered panels. It notes that they came
from the collection of Queen Maria Cristina of Spain
at the Palacio de Vista Alegre, Madrid. This suggests
that the embroideries were in the royal collection when
Salamanca purchased the palace in 1859. By the end of
the 1860s severe financial difficulties led to the sale of
Salamanca's extensive art collections that included, as
well as the Farmleigh embroideries, five of the six paint
ings from the series of The Prodigal Son by Murillo
(1618-1682) now in the National Gallery of Ireland.2
The catalogue for the Salamanca sale in 1874 in
London records that Edward Cecil paid a total of 289
guineas for the panels which he sent to be hung in
Farmleigh around 1880.3 The sale catalogue also
included a further panel in the planetary set, described
as depicting Apollo in a chariot drawn by four horses.
This panel was purchased under the name of
'Armytage' for seventy-six guineas. It is not known
whether the Apollo panel is extant, however, its exis
tence in 1874 again indicates that the Apollo, Venus,
1 Africa
2 Saturn
3 Farmleigh
All photos of the
Farmleigh Embroideries by Gillian Buckley
3
OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION |
19
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Farmleigh Gallery The opening of Farmleigh Gallery by the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie
Ahern, TD, in September 2005 marked a significant stage in
the development of the estate's facilities and contribution to the
cultural life of Dublin and Ireland. The existence of the gallery
supplements the substantial art collection in Farmleigh House
itself, which is drawn from the OPW Government Art Collection,
Guinness family artworks, and loans from other art institutions
including the National Gallery of Ireland.
Originally functioning as the estate's cow sheds, the gallery build
ing has been transformed by Gerry Cahili Architects and the OPW so
that it meets international standards as an exhibition space. As a
result, its programme has been opened up to attracting significant
exhibitions for the future. Furthermore, Farmleigh's role in providing a
residence for visiting heads of state, together with this new gallery
space, creates an opportunity for bringing a public dimension to these
visits by displaying exhibitions related to the
state visitors and their country of origin.
Exhibitions this year will range from craft
and furniture design to contemporary drawing
and painting exhibitions. 'To Hold' is the sec
ond exhibition of the year running until 11
June. Peter Ting, homeware designer for Asprey,
London, curates an international cast of sixteen
highly respected and collected ceramics makers
in a premiere show. As the title suggests, the works represented are
a wide-range of vessels that are associated with containing, carrying,
and holding. Not to be missed is the 'Curator's Walk Through Talk'
on Saturday 10 June at 12pm and again at 3pm.
The summer months will see exhibitions from the Irish State Art
Collection (16 June - 9 July), coinciding with the launch of the OPW
art catalogue Art in State Buildings 1995 - 2005 , Contemporary
Croatian Drawing (14 July -
August), and the RDS National Crafts
Competition - Winners Exhibition (24 August
- 24 September). The
last quarter of the year heralds a showcase of contemporary furniture
design from the G M IT Letterfrack Furniture College entitled 'Furnishing
the Details' (5 October - 5 November), followed by an ethereal show
by Japanese artist Makiko Nakamura as an homage to Samuel Beckett
(10 November - 10 December). A display of Beckett material will be
shown simultaneously in the Guinness Library at Farmleigh, marking
the centenary of his birth. As a fitting conclusion to the 2006
programme, Farmleigh Gallery will play host to the first ever 100 Cribs
Ireland Exhibition, organised by Veritas and sponsored by the Naughton
Foundation. Students at primary, secondary, and third-level will com
pete to make the top 100 designs to be shown at the gallery. The four
best designs will also participate in the Mostra 100 Presepi 2006 (The
Annual International Crib Competition) in Rome. This exhibition will be
open over the Christmas and New Year period, until 7 January 2007.
For further information please visit www.farmleighgallery.ie or pick up a
copy of our Exhibitions 2006 programme at the gallery.
Farmleigh Gallery is open during exhibitions from
Thursdays to Sundays and Bank Holidays, 10.00am to
5.30pm. Last admittance to the Estate is at 4.45pm;
gates close 6pm. Entrance is free of charge. W
Li^^^ll^HHHHHHHHH??I??^IHi
The Farmleigh panels with their intriguing provenance are part of a rare surviving heritage of 17th century Italian pictorial embroidered wall hangings
Jupiter and Saturn panels were indeed once part of a
complete set of seven panels.
This theory is supported by the presence of anoth
er panel matching those at Farmleigh which is now in
the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St
Petersburg.4 This panel depicts Mercury who is por
trayed riding in a chariot drawn by a pair of storks
while the conventional astrological sigil for Mercury
appears above his head. Having now accounted for five
of the seven planetary gods it seems safe to conclude
that the original set must also have included the
Triumphs of Mars and Diana. The panels are embroi
dered in silk floss on linen in a needlepainting style.
Needlepainting or acupitura is a technique whereby the
entire ground fabric is covered with stitches. It
attempts to emulate painting so as to produce in thread
^^^^ all the shading subtleties of the
^^^^^^^k ^^^^ painter's brush. In Italy in
M^^^^^^^^B|^^^V the 17th-century the needle
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ painting style was used on
^^^H^^HI^^^ large-scale pictorial hangings
^K^K such as those at Farmleigh.
^^^r^ Naples was one of the main centres of
m production. It is therefore probable
2 0 I
OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
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nflHHHHHHHHHIHHIHHHi that the Farmleigh panels originated in Naples, birth
place of Queen Maria Cristina. A set of five 17th-cen
tury Italian embroidered hangings at the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London are technically and stylisti
cally close to the Farmleigh panels and depict scenes
from the story of Rinaldo and Armida. They were
acquired by the V ck A in Naples in the 19th century.5 Various stitches are used most effectively in the pan
els. Laidwork is employed extensively on the main back
ground area around the figures, the architectural ele
ments, the terrace, and the floral design on the
pedestals. Couching outlines architectural details and
long-and-short stitch achieves subtle effects of shading
in the figures, animals and chariots. Other stitches
used include tiny French knots used singly as fruit on
the trees or in clusters to achieve a textured effect as on
the trees in the Saturn panel.
Colour in the panels has been severely affected by
over three centuries of exposure to natural and artificial
light and the polychrome silks are considerably faded
leaving the colour palate dominated by beige tones.
Embroidery as a surface technique is more vulnerable to
wear and tear than tapestry and evidence of such damage
is present on all of the Farmleigh panels. Nonetheless the
needlepainting style remains impressive. Undoubtedly
the Farmleigh panels with their intriguing provenance
are indeed part of a rare surviving heritage of 17th
century Italian pictorial embroidered wall hangings.
WEAVING HEAVEN AND EARTH II
Mary Heffernan
Mary Heffernan joined the OPW in 1985 and has been general
manager at Farmleigh since 2001. She was born in Clonmel, Co
Tipperary in 1967, and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a
BA in Economics in 1989. She has been a member of the OPW's Art
Management Group since 1992. In 1995 she completed a Diploma
in Art History at TCD, and is currently completing an
MA in the History of Design and Applied Arts at the
National College of Art and Design. This course has
been of enormous benefit in relation to the program
ming of exhibitions for Farmleigh Gallery.
Mary Heffernan has also managed various con
struction projects for national institutions, including
the National Museum, the National Library and
IMMA. Similarly, she has been project manager for
various public art projects, including the 1798 Memorial Park on the
Liffey Quays, the memorial monument Tulach a' tSoiais in Co
Wexford, and Rowan Gillespie's Famine Figures in the docklands.
She says: 'it is a privilege to be involved in projects that create
opportunities for the broadest possible audiences to engage with art
of the highest standard by living artists.'
Mary Heffernan organised the first six of the OPW's touring
exhibitions, and was project manager for various OPW publications
including Building for Government ano the Art of the State catalogues.
As Project Manager for the Farmleigh Refurbishment Project
2000-2001, and General Manager since 2001, Mary Heffernan has
had a long and close association with this property. Farmleigh is
unusual in being used for state occasions, and also open to the
public, as she explains: This means that the standard is unusually
high, but the result can also be enjoyed by the public. We started with
family days, which were great, but since the opening of Farmleigh
Gallery, we are getting a much younger visitor profile. As well as being
a very exciting new development, this also meets the OPW's goal of
Farmleigh being a cultural resource for ail ages in the community. A
lot of our job is about injecting new life into old buildings, and I hope
that the way forward will be to look at how the public have responded
to the programmes at Farmleigh, and use that feedback in other prop
erties. We are also delighted that Farmleigh is already proving itself to
be a model for the use of heritage buildings and their relevance to a
contemporary audience, as the trend of Farmers' Markets, concerts
and lectures take off all over the country.'
Maire Byrne completed her dissertation on the Farmleigh panels as part of a master's degree in Art History at UCD in 2003. She has
since been commissioned by the OPW to undertake further
research on the panels.
1 Sommerhoff, J C, Lexicon Pharmaceutico
Chymicum, Nuremburg, 1701, p.288. 2 Mulcahy, R, Spanish Paintings in the
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1988,
p.47. The Earl of Dudley bought five of
the Prodigal Son series at the Salamanca
sale of 1867. He then acquired the sixth
painting from Pope Pius IX in exchange
for a Fra Ang?lico, a Bonifacio and 2,000
gold napoleons. In 1896 Dudley sold the
six Morillos to the first Alfred Beit whose
son donated this magnificent collection
totheNGI in 1987.
3 Catalogue for this sale courtesy of
Jeremy Rex-Parkes, archivist at
Christie's, London.
4 Verkhovskaia, A S, West-European
Embroidery of the XII-XIX centuries in
the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, 1961, p.116.
5 The author acknowledges the assistance
of Claire Browne, assistant curator, Textiles and Dress, Victoria and Albert
Museum.
4 Farmleigh Gallery
5 Venus
6 Jupiter Detail
showing the hybrid creature
7 Jupiter
OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION |
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