The Vegetable Market

A fine Brussels tapestry, Flemish, c.1730,

after a painting by David Teniers II, from the workshop of Peter Van den Hecke.

Height:  6ft  (183cm)    Width:  9ft  (274cm)

The scene is after a painting by David Teniers II (1610-90), painter to Archduke Leopold-Wilheim, the governor of the Netherlands. Teniers painted humble country folk (boers) in earth tones surrounded by rustic settings. Scenes from peasant life appealed to the bourgeoisie who found them humorous and they became a fashionable style of tapestry during this period, also they were a reaction against the baroque excesses of the period.

Peter Van den Hecke, who was active 1700-1752, was from a prominent family of  Brussels weavers, he was the brother of Frans who had a smaller workshop. Though Peter’s workshop wove numerous sets of tapestry of various subjects, his Teniers scenes were the most popular. He wove each scene in four different sizes to accommodate clients needs.

Similar examples:

Schloss Thurn und Taxis, Regensberg, Germany.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France.

Chateau de Pau, Pau, France.

Literature:

Anne Gray Bennett,  Five Centuries of Tapestry, The Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, 1992, p207.