102 DF.RRYSHIRE TAPESTRY. 



centre plaque to the angles, where they are held by 

 cherubs half concealed in the cornice or architrave. 

 This series is singularly beautiful. The cartoons were 

 probably executed at the end of the sixteenth century or 

 early in the seventeenth century. Three of the hangings 

 have separate hunting scenes, viz., of the wolf, the bear, 

 and the stag. In the latter, the animal appears in a large 

 lake, with a man clinging to its antlers. The hounds are 

 swimming in eager pursuit. The most attractive of the 

 whole set represents a marriage festival. Apparently, the 

 bridal procession is returning home from the marriage 

 ceremony, and numerous link-bearers attend them. A 

 banquet is prepared in the background. The design and 

 execution of this work are of unspeakable beauty and 

 excellence. It is commonly known as " The Spanish 

 Wedding." 



Square Lobby, oti the left hand impost : — 



Part of a hanging of The Return of the Prodigal Son, 

 probably executed about 1550. The principal figure is 

 vested in white, shaded with blue. A belt passes round 

 the waist, from which a gypciere and dagger depend on 

 the left side. Apparently woven in the Netherlands 

 during the Spanish rule. 



The next hanging, suspended on the outer wall of the building, 

 is a very remarkable and interesting example, probably executed 

 about 1535. '^^^ story is represented in three scenes, surmounted 

 by a continuous canopy, supported by shafts or columns which 

 divide the pictures. As the mediaeval artists always represented 

 their figures (however remote the period of the story depicted) in 

 the costume of their own day, it often becomes very difficult to 

 determine the subject intended. It is so here. The costumes 

 are of the time of Henry VIII., but the subject, if not illustrative 

 of some incident during the wars of the Roses, may be of a far 

 more remote period, or possibly borrowed from the pages of 

 romance. 



