The Demidov Tapestry: Titus at the Massacre at Jerusalem

This tapestry is part of a series of eight tapestries depicting the Judaic Wars (66-70 A.D.), which appear to be based on the accounts of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37-100 A.D.). On stylistic grounds the tapestry is believed to have been designed by Charles Poërson. Four tapestry workshops are recorded as having woven the series: that of Willem van Leefdael (active until 1685), Gerard Peemans (active until 1707), Geraert van der Streken (d. 1677) and lastly either Jean (d.1676) or Jerome (d. 1719) Le Clerc. Four tapestries woven from the series are in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, three others were acquired by the Louvre, Paris.

The tapestry once belonged in the celebrated Demidov Collection. The most noted collectors in the Demidov family were Nikolai Demidov (1724-1789) and his son, Prince Anatole Demidov (1812-1870).

The present tapestry depicts a scene from Flavius Josephus’s account of the Judaic Wars, with soldiers pillaging, within a wooded landscape, with pitched tents before a fortress, the borders densely woven with ribbon-tied laurel wreaths suspending various armorial trophies, alternating with blossoming garlands and frolicking hounds. The design of the tapestry is a typical example of Poerson’s style, which was inspired by the classics and antiquity.