House and Garden 
ALEXANDER AND ROXANE 
dining-room of his house in East i'wenfy-third Street, 
New York, until his death in 1905. 
I'he most famous collections of Flemish tapestries 
are those at Madrid and Vienna. The former are 
illustrated and described in Valencia’s two folio 
volumes, that can he consulted at the library of the 
Metropolitan Museum; the latter in the first .four 
volumes of the “ Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen 
Sammlungen der osterreichischen Kaiserhauses,” at 
the Avery Library of Columbia University. Both 
books give drawings of the marks or monograms 
that are often found on Flemish tapestries of the 
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; and fre- 
(|uently in connection with the mark of the city of 
Brussels, that is a shield between two B’s, the first 
of which is reversed. A comparison of these marks 
with one another, and with contemporary monograms 
found on pottery and engravings, identifies the marks 
that are woven into the lower part of the right bor¬ 
der of three of Mr. Prime’s Alexander tapestries as 
those of a sixteenth century merchant weaver. The 
style and weave of the tapestries point definitely to 
the first half of the sixteenth century. 
1 he most famous tapestry merchant or contractor 
of the period was Peter van Alst (also spelled Aelst) 
of Brussels. It was he who 
wove for Pope Feo X., under 
the direction of the Flemish 
painter Bernard van Orley, 
the marvelous Acts of the 
Apostles designed by Ra¬ 
phael. The original painted 
models or cartoons of these 
tapestries are to-day in the 
Victoria and Albert Museum 
having been acquired for 
England by Charles 1 . The 
tapestries themselves are 
still in the Vatican, where 
they were first shown in the 
Sistine chapel, for which they 
were made, on Christmas 
day, 1519. 
About Peter van Alst we 
have documentary informa¬ 
tion in the account books of 
Philip the Handsome, who 
was son of the Emperor 
Maximilian F, father of the 
Emperor Charles V., regent- 
husband of Queen Joanna of 
Spain, and who inherited 
Brussels and the rest of 
Flanders from his mother, 
Mary of Burgundy. Under 
date of 1497 we read (with 
some omissions): 
“ To Pierre d’Enghien, tapestry merchant, living at 
Brussels, the sum Mill livres VII sols III deniers, 
for a chamber of tapestry with shepherds and shep¬ 
herdesses, that he has sold to Monseigneur (Philip 
the Handsome) to use at his very noble pleasure.” 
Under date of June, 1504: “To Pierre d’Enghien, 
called d’Alost (Alost being the French form of the 
Flemish town of Aelst), tappissier of Monseigneur, 
eight hundred and thirteen livres for five pile rugs 
from Turkey. ” 
In 1511 Pierre van Aelst is qualified as “valet de 
chambre et tappissier de Monseigneur.” In 1521 
“Pieter van Alst tappissier resident at Brussels” 
receives CXI livres for eight pieces of verdure 
tapestry. 
It was about this time that the fashion of signing 
tapestries came into vogue—a fashion that was en¬ 
couraged in 1528 by government edict. So that 
while we do not know how long Peter van Alst con¬ 
tinued his business activity, we may be sure that 
tapestries woven for him after that year would be 
signed. 
For the convenience of the reader I have had the 
monograms sketched as they appear on the Alex¬ 
ander tapestries. Two of these are reproduced on 
