Niobe's Pride
by SPIERING, François, Wool and silk on a woolen warp, 360 x 530 cm
Fran�ois Spiering produced tapestries in Delft for an international clientele. Among those with subjects drawn from classical mythology are two series of Diana tapestries with different measurements and after different designs. Niobe’s Pride belongs to the Diana series of twelve tapestries, woven in 1610 for an unknown customer. The subject of these tapestries are taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Niobe’s Pride is the only tapestry of the series bearing a date, it is signed and dated centre bottom, between the border and the field: FRANCISCVS.SPIRINVS.FECIT.ANNO 1610. The designer of the Diana series is not recorded, however scholars agree that he must have been Karel van Mander the Elder, the biographer, poet, and artist.