Botta Adorno, Empress Maria Theresa and Brussels Tapestry in the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Part I

Abstract

Relying on newly excavated archival sources, this two-part study seeks to map the genesis and development of the plan conceived by Antoniotto di Botta Adorno (1688–1774), Minister Plenipotentiary of the Austrian Netherlands from 1749 to 1753, to support the Brussels tapestry industry by promoting Brussels tapestries as diplomatic gifts. The first part sheds fresh light on the lives and mutual relations between the tapestry producers (tapissiers) who populated the landscape in the 1750s — Peter van den Hecke (1680–1752), Daniel IV Leyniers (1705–1770) and the half-brothers Jan Frans (1697–1774) and Peter II van der Borcht (1712–1760) — and analyses the slow maturation of Adorno’s plan in the summer of 1749. The second article will describe the way in which Botta Adorno made the project a reality and will also examine the strategies devised by the Minister and the Brussels tapissiers and the context in which they sought to apply them.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank fellow art historians Guy Delmarcel, Leo De Ren, Katlijne Van der Stighelen, Klara Alen and Astrid Slegten and also Dominique Joie and Beverley Jackson (the latter for her excellent translation of the article, as always, from the Dutch).

Notes

1 A. Wauters, Les Tapisseries Bruxelloises (Brussels: Baertsoen, 1878), pp. 363–83.

2 In the original: ‘faute de débit, sera tôt ou tard forcé d’abandonner ses artistes à la plus déplorable misère’; ibid., p. 378.

3 In the original: ‘si le feu Comte de Cobenzel ne l’eût soutenue des ses propres deniers’; A. Dérival de Gomicourt, Le Voyageur dans les Pays-Bas Autrichiens, i (Amsterdam: Changuion, 1782), p. 173; Wauters, Les Tapisseries Bruxelloises, p. 381.

4 C. Piot, Le Règne de Marie-Thérèse (Leuven: Fonteyn, 1874), p. 233.

5 J. Laenen, Le Ministère de Botta-Adorno dans les Pays-Bas Autrichiens pendant le Règne de Marie-Thérèse (1749–1753) (Antwerp: La Librairie Néerlandaise, 1901), pp. 205–08.

6 In the original: ‘la cour de Vienne leur [the Brussels tapestry producers] passe pour 20 à 25000 florins de commandes par an’; A. Julin, Les Grandes Fabriques en Belgique vers le Milieu du XVIIIe Siècle (1764) (Brussels: Paleis der Academiën, 1903–1904), p. 62.

7 A fifth (very brief) study that can be included here is: G. Cumont, ‘Tapisseries de la maison du Prince Charles de Lorraine et tapisseries mentionnées dans les “Gastos Secretos” (dépenses secrètes) du Gouvernement autrichien (1744–1789)’, Annales de la Société d’Archéologie de Bruxelles, x (1896), pp. 349–52.

8 L. Perey, Charles de Lorraine et la Cour de Bruxelles sous le Règne de Marie-Thérèse (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1903); C. de Villermont, Le Comte de Cobenzl, Ministre Plénipotentiaire aux Pays-Bas (Bruges: Desclée-De Brouwer, 1925); G. De Boom, Les Ministres Plénipotentiaires dans les Pays-Bas Autrichiens, Principalement Cobenzl (Brussels: Lamertin, 1932); J. Schouteden-Wery, Charles de Lorraine et son Temps (1712–1780) (Brussels: Dessart, 1943). To obtain a better picture of Vienna’s share, these authors had at their disposal A. von Arneth’s monumental Geschichte Maria Theresias, i–x (Vienna: Braumüller, 1863–79) and Briefe der Kaiserin Maria Theresia und ihre Kinder und Freunde, i–iv (Vienna: Braumüller, 1881). The first in-depth study of the economic situation in the Austrian Netherlands is H. Van Houtte, Histoire Economique de la Belgique à la Fin de l’Ancien Régime (Ghent: Van Rysselberghe and Rombaut, 1920).

9 R. Pick, Empress Maria Theresa: The Earlier Years, 1717–1757 (New York: Harper and Row, 1966); C. A. Macartney, Maria Theresa and the House of Austria (London: English Universities Press, 1969); K. A. Roider, Maria Theresa (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973). Studies devised on a similar basis are G. Fussenegger, Maria Theresia (Vienna: Molden, 1980) and F. Herre, Maria Theresia (Cologne: Kiepenheuer and Witsch, 1994).

10 P. Moureaux, Les Préoccupations Statistiques du Gouvernement des Pays-Bas Autrichiens (Brussels: Université de Bruxelles, 1971); P. Moureaux, La Statistique Industrielle dans les Pays-Bas Autrichiens à l’Époque de Marie-Thérèse, i–ii (Brussels: Paleis der Academiën, 1974); P. Lenders, ‘Ontwikkeling van politiek en instellingen in de Oostenrijkse Nederlanden. De invloed van de Europese oorlogen’, Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis, lxiv (1981), pp. 33–78; H. Hasquin ed., Oostenrijks België, 1713–1794 (Brussels: Gemeentekrediet, 1987); P. G. M. Dickson, Finance and Government under Maria Theresia 1740–1780, i–ii (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987); H. Houtman-De Smedt ed., Overheid en Economie. Economische Aspecten van de Overheidspolitiek in en met Betrekking tot de Oostenrijkse Nederlanden (Antwerp: University Press, 1989); H. Coppens, De Financiën van de Centrale Regering van de Zuidelijke Nederlanden aan het Einde van het Spaanse en onder Oostenrijks Bewind (ca. 1680–1788) (Brussels: Paleis der Academiën, 1992); M. Galland, Charles de Lorraine, Gouverneur Général des Pays-Bas Autrichiens (1744–1780) (Brussels: Université de Bruxelles, 1993).

11 Moureaux, La Statistique, p. 72.

12 W. Koschatzky ed., Maria Theresia und Ihre Zeit (Vienna: Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, 1980).

13 I. De Meûter, ‘De wandtapijtindustrie te Brussel ten tijde van het Oostenrijks bewind’, in De Oostenrijkse Nederlanden, het Prinsbisdom Luik en het Graafschap Loon in de 18^de eeuw (Hasselt: Provinciebestuur Limburg, 1989), pp. 79–90.

14 W. Brassat, Tapisserien und Politik (Berlin: Mann, 1992).

15 F. Huygens, ‘Mozes in de Zuidnederlandse tapissierskunst. Traditie en vernieuwing in twee tapijten van Jasper van der Borcht’, Bulletin des Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, lxv (1994), pp. 257–304; N. de Reyniès, ‘Jean van Orley cartonnier. La tenture d’Achille au Musée Jacquemart-André’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, cxxv (1995), pp. 155–76; N. de Reyniès, ‘Jean van Orley. Une tenture de l’histoire de Psyché’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, cxxv (1995), pp. 209–20; K. Brosens and G. Delmarcel, ‘Les aventures de Don Quichotte. Tapisseries bruxelloises de l’atelier Leyniers-Reydams’, Revue Belge d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art, lxvii (1998), pp. 55–92; K. Brosens, ‘Brussels tapestry producer Judocus de Vos (1661/1662–1734) — new data and design attributions’, Studies in the Decorative Arts, ix (2002), pp. 58–86; K. Brosens, A Contextual Study of Brussels Tapestry, 1670–1770: The Dye Works and Tapestry Workshop of Urbanus Leyniers (1674–1747) (Brussels: Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, 2004); K. Brosens, ‘The Story of Psyche in Brussels tapestry c. 1700. New data on Jan van Orley, Jan-Baptist Vermillion and Victor Janssens’, The Burlington Magazine, cxlvii (2005), pp. 401–06; K. Brosens, ‘Eighteenth-century Brussels tapestry and the Goût Moderne. Philippe de Hondt’s sets contextualized’, Studies in the Decorative Arts, xiv (2006–2007), pp. 53–79; K. Brosens, ‘Revisiting Brussels tapestry, 1700–1740: new data on tapissiers Albert Auwercx and Judocus de Vos’, Textile History, xliii (2012), pp. 180–96.

16 As a rule, eighteenth-century Flemish painting has been disparaged and/or ignored by scholars; see S. Ansiaux and J. Lavalleye, ‘Notes sur les peintres de la cour de Charles de Lorraine’, Revue Belge d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art, vi (1936), p. 306; P. Bautier, ‘La peinture au dix-huitième siècle’, in P. Fierens ed., L’Art en Belgique du Moyen Âge à Nos Jours (Brussels: La Renaissance du Livre, 1938), p. 393; P. Philippot, ‘Een nieuw bewustzijn van de kunst’, in D. Coekelberghs and P. Loze eds, 1770–1830. Om en rond het Neo-Classicisme in België (Brussels: Gemeentekrediet, 1985), p. 22; P. Philippot, ‘Kunst: van barok tot neoclassicisme’, in Hasquin, Oostenrijks België, p. 387. The only studies in which De Hase is accorded a role are D. Coekelberghs, Les Peintres Belges à Rome de 1700 à 1830 (Brussels and Rome: Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 1976), pp. 393–94; C. Lemoine-Isabeau, ‘Les tapisseries de Cyrus par Maximilien De Hase, 1771–1775’, Revue Belge d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art, xlvii (1978), p. 212; W. Scheelen, ‘Enkele minder bekende werken van de Brusselse schilder Maximiliaan de Hase (ca. 1718?–1781)’, Arca Lovaniensis, xv–xvi (1987), pp. 95–125; G. Delmarcel and F. Huygens, ‘A propos du tapissier Jean-Baptiste Vermillion, du cartonnier Maximilien De Hase et d’autres ateliers bruxellois du XVIIIe siècle’, CIETA Bulletin, lxxiv (1997), pp. 146–58; K. Brosens, ‘The final convulsions of Brussels tapestry: The Legend of the Miraculous Host, 1769–1785’, The Burlington Magazine, clv (2013), pp. 82–87.

17 Wauters, Les Tapisseries, pp. 360 and 373; Lemoine-Isabeau, Les Tapisseries, p. 212.

18 See, for example, Delmarcel and Huygens, ‘A propos du tapissier’, p. 153 on the one hand, and Brosens, A Contextual Study, p. 119 and Brosens, Eighteenth-Century Brussels Tapestry, pp. 53–79 on the other.

19 M. Yonan, Empress Maria Theresa and the Politics of Habsburg Imperial Art (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011).

20 I am currently working on a monograph on De Hase which will naturally include an annotated edition of the Memorie Boeck. See also K. Brosens and K. Van der Stighelen, ‘Paintings, prices and productivity. Lessons learned from Maximiliaan de Hase’s Memorie Boeck (1744–1780)’, Simiolus, xxxvi (2012) [2013], pp. 173–83.

21 K. Brosens, ‘The organisation of seventeenth-century tapestry production in Brussels and Paris. A comparative view’, De Zeventiende Eeuw, xx (2004), pp. 274–77.

22 Parochieregisters, 19 July 1680, 350, fol. 188v, Stadsarchief, Brussels (BSA); I. de Stein d’Altenstein, Annuaire de la Noblesse de Belgique, xxxi (Brussels: Librairie Polytechnique de Decq et Duhent, 1877), pp. 261–69 includes a genealogical study of the Van den Hecke family but the survey is far from complete.

23 Parochieregisters, 4 June 1710, 415, fol. 135v, BSA.

24 Parochieregisters, 31 January 1697, 159, fol. 40r, BSA.

25 Registers der Tresorije, 15 November 1710, 1307, fols 21v–22v, BSA. A copy of the application for privileges, submitted on 27 September 1710, was preserved; Liasse 778, BSA. The 1681 document recording Jan Frans’s privileges (Registers der Tresorije, 11 October 1681, 1303, BSA) extended the fiscal benefits that had been granted in 1662 (Registers der Tresorije, 24 May 1662, 1298, BSA).

26 Parochieregisters, 19 March 1677, 349, fol. 163r, BSA; Parochieregisters, 17 December 1700, 414, fol. 70r, BSA.

27 Parochieregisters, 13 June 1675, 348, fol. 307r, BSA; Parochieregisters, 27 October 1742, 419, fol. 213r, BSA; Parochieregisters, 29 June 1695, 394, fol. 53r, BSA.

28 As is clear from the entry that Daniel IV Leyniers noted down in his Doodtboeck: ‘Anno 1742 den 25 october’s avonts ten 7 uren is gestorven cosijn Jaspar van der Borcht ... Tapissier bij de capucinen ...’; for the full entry and the Doodtboeck, see Brosens, A Contextual Study, pp. 18–19, 349.

29 Marriage contract, 7 November 1703, Notariaat Generaal van Brabant, 1993(2), Algemeen Rijksarchief Anderlecht, Brussels (BARA).

30 Will, Judocus de Vos, 14 February 1715, Notariaat Generaal van Brabant, 1072, BARA. For De Vos’s role, see Brosens, ‘Revisiting Brussels Tapestry’.

31 Brosens, A Contextual Study, pp. 347–49.

32 Brosens, Eighteenth-Century Brussels Tapestry, p. 58.

33 Parochieregisters, 7 May 1725, 449, fol. 215r, BSA.

34 Parochieregisters, 28 April 1697, 354, BSA. A year earlier, almost to the day, a son had been born to Van der Borcht and Van den Hecke, whom they baptised Jan Frans (Parochieregisters, 23 April 1696, 354, BSA), but this child died before his first birthday.

35 Ambachten en Gilden, 819, fol. 7, BARA; Pinchart, La Corporation, p. 483.

36 Wauters, Les Tapisseries Bruxelloises, pp. 345–46; Gallemaerts, Reeks Wandtapijten, p. 161.

37 A. Henne and A. Wauters, Histoire de la Ville de Bruxelles, ii (Brussels: Perichon, 1845), p. 222; De Cacamp, Oude Geslachten, p. 244.

38 Registers der Tresorije, 25 September 1726, 1308, fols 218v–20r, BSA.

39 Jan Frans van der Borcht’s children were baptised in the Church of Our Lady of Finisterrae: Gaspar (godfather: Gaspar van der Borcht; godmother: Christina Bruneau; Parochieregisters, 4 January 1727, 438, fol. 141v, BSA), Gaspar (godfather: Gaspar van der Borcht; godmother: Christina Bruneau; Parochieregisters, 20 May 1728, 438, fol. 172v, BSA), Anna Françoise (godfather: François van den Hecke; godmother: Anna Lucia van der Borcht; Parochieregisters, 8 June 1729, 438, fol. 13r, BSA), Peter (godfather: Peter van der Borcht; godmother: Theresia van der Borcht, Parochieregisters, 6 February 1731, 439, fol. 52v, BSA), Jan Peter (godfather: Peter van den Hecke; godmother: Maria van den Brande; Parochieregisters, 2 November 1733, 439, fol. 115r, BSA) and, finally, Jacob (godfather: Jacob Wielemans; godmother: Anna Theresia van der Borcht; Parochieregisters, 439, fol. 164r, 7 September 1735, BSA).

40 Parochieregisters, 8 April 1712, 3, 59, fol. 9v, BSA.

41 In the original: ‘aengenomen ... het selven huijshouden, ende vervolgens dagelijcxs is werkende met alle de knechten gelijck wijlen sijnen voorschreven vader heeft gedaen’; Registers der Tresorije, 11 December 1742, 1310, fols 10v–12r (quotation on fol. 11r), BSA.

42 Notariaat Generaal van Brabant, 3539, 25 January 1744, BARA.

43 Parochieregisters, 19 February 1752, 421, fol. 41r, BSA.

44 For example, M. Crick-Kuntziger, ‘Tapisseries bruxelloises du XVIIIe siècle de l’histoire de Moise’, Bulletin des Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, xvi (1944), p. 108; Delmarcel, Vlaamse wandtapijt, p. 363; Brosens, A Contextual Study, p. 349.

45 Parochieregisters, 5 October 1760, 168, fol. 113v, BSA. The notion that Peter II van der Borcht died in 1763 derives from Wauters; he wrote that tapestry sets woven by the late Peter II had been sold at auction in Brussels in 1763 (Wauters, Les Tapisseries Bruxelloises, p. 373) which led tapestry scholars to conclude that he must have died that year.

46 Registers der Tresorije, 2 December 1730, 1308, fols 326r–27r, BSA.

47 Brosens, A Contextual Study.

48 Leyniers and Van der Borcht were the two unnamed ‘fabricateurs de tapisserie’ mentioned in the 1764 industrial census; together they employed ‘12 à 18 ouvriers’. According to the 1762 census, Leyniers had at that time seventeen looms, nine of which were in use; at Van der Borcht’s workshop, eight of the fifteen looms were in use at that time. See Moureaux, La Statistique Industrielle, ii, p. 72.

49 Registers der Tresorije, 1312, BSA, p. 130.

50 Parochieregisters, 16 April 1774, 171, fol. 46r, BSA. The entry makes it clear that he had died on 31 March.

51 Registers der Tresorije, 1312, BSA, pp. 539–41.

52 The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) was a series of related conflicts in Europe, North America and India over Maria Theresa’s succession to the Habsburg dominions.

53 The fact that Botta Adorno spent relatively little time in the Netherlands may well explain why he has received so little attention in the historical literature, certainly in comparison to his successor Cobenzl. Laenen, Le Ministère, is still the most detailed study. De Boom, Les Ministres, includes the clarification Principalement Cobenzl in the title, and in publications such as E. Discailles, Les Pays-Bas sous le Règne de Marie-Thérèse (1740–1780) (Brussels: Muquardt, 1872), Piot, Le Règne, pp. 68–69, and H. Hasquin, ‘Sur l’administration du commerce dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles’, Revue d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, xx (1973), pp. 430–33, Botta Adorno was mentioned only in passing, if at all, while Cobenzl and Stahremberg were accorded more prominent positions. For the origins and role of the position of Minister Plenipotentiary, see P. Lenders, ‘Wenen en Brussel: bevoogding die een eigenheid aanvaardt’, in Hasquin ed., Oostenrijks België, pp. 49–54 and H. Hasquin, ‘Services d’assistance et de contrôle auprès des gouverneurs des Pays-Bas méridionaux (XVIIe–XVIIIe siècle)’, Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique, lxi (1990), pp. 447–68.

54 C. Lemaire ed., Karel Alexander van Lotharingen, Gouverneur-Generaal van de Oostenrijkse Nederlanden (Brussels: Generale Bank, 1987); C. Dumortier and P. Habets eds, Bruxelles-Tervueren. Les Ateliers et Manufactures de Charles de Lorraine (Brussels: CFC, 2007); L. De Ren and E. Derveaux, Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine. Prince de l’Europe des Lumières (Ars-sur-Moselle: Domini, 2012).

55 There is very little literature on Tarouca: see T. von Karajan, Maria Theresia und Graf Silva-Tarouca (Vienna: Gerold, 1859); E. Silva-Tarouca, Der Mentor der Kaiserin (Zurich: Amalthea, 1960) and C. Benedik and J. Garms, ‘Zwischen Architektur und Verwaltung. Die Direktion Graf Silva Taroucas und die Karrieren von Ignazio Valmagini, Nikolaus Pacassi und August Gottlieb Lederer im Hofbauamt’, Römische Historische Mitteilungen, xlvii (2005), pp. 335–67. For the Conseil Suprême des Pays-Bas, which was abolished in 1757, see M. Baelde, ‘De samenstelling van de Hoge Raad der Nederlanden te Wenen (1717–1757)’, in Album aangeboden aan Charles Verlinden, i (Ghent: s.n., 1975), pp. 1–15 and M. Baelde, ‘De afschaffing van de Hoge Raad der Nederlanden te Wenen (1757)’, in Recht en Instellingen in de Oude Nederlanden tijdens de Middeleeuwen en de Nieuwe Tijd. Liber Amicorum Jan Buntinx (Leuven: Universitaire Pers, 1981), pp. 567–75.

56 Laenen, Le Ministère, pp. 205–08.

57 The archives of Botta Adorno are preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. This huge resource was described by A. Cauchie at the end of the nineteenth century: A. Cauchie, ‘Le Maréchal Antoniotto de Botta-Adorno et ses papiers d’état’, in Compte Rendu du Troisième Congrès Scientifique International des Catholiques Tenu à Bruxelles du 3 au 8 Septembre 1894 (Brussels: Polleunis et Ceuterick, 1895), pp. 397–423. The structure remained unchanged throughout the twentieth century but the old numbering (as used, for example, by Laenen, Le Ministère) was revised. For this study, the documents used were primarily the ‘Cartelle Grandi’ since they include the correspondence with Tarouca.

58 In the original: ‘pour procurer quelque juste avantage au Païs en général et aux ouvriers [tapissiers] en particulier’; Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 25 June 1749, Cartelle Grandi (CG) x145inf, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (MBA).

59 Yonan, Empress, pp. 58–65. See also H. Duchhardt, ‘Das diplomatische Abschiedsgeschenk’, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, lvii (1975), pp. 349–50.

60 In the original: ‘dans ces Provinces-ci on pouroit trouver des présents dignes de Souverains’ and ‘des hautelisses, qu’on ne fait nulle part ni si bien, ni à si bon marché qu’ici’.

61 For a clear overview and explanation of the prevailing practices, see Brassat, Tapisserien, pp. 82–94 and N. de Reyniès, ‘Les ateliers des Gobelins. La permanence d’un site et d’une activité’, Monuments Historiques, cxc (1993), pp. 13–14.

62 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 5 July 1749. CG x145inf, MBA.

63 Ibid.

64 In the original: ‘outes les tentures qu’ils peuvent actuellement avoir en magazin, et même celles qu’ils auront en œuvre, et assez avancées pour pouvoir être livrées dans le terme convenable’.

65 In the original: ‘la fabrique de l’ouvrier le plus renommé ci-devant savoir [Judocus] de Vos ne subsiste plus’; ‘plusieurs cartons, qui ne furent pas executés, et sur lesquels on poura peut-être faire executer la tenture’; Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 16 July 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

66 In the original: ‘Ces fabriques s’éteindront faute du debit, vu que ce païs-ci étant déjà pourvu de tentures ... ayant coupé l’entrée à ces manufactures par des impôts exorbitans dont on vient de les charger’, ibid.

67 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 19 July 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

68 De Reyniès, Jean Van Orley; Brosens, A Contextual Study, pp. 152–59; Brosens, Eighteenth-Century Brussels Tapestry.

69 K. Brosens, European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, New Haven and London: Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 191–98.

70 Peter II van der Borcht, Mémoire, [possibly July 1749], CG x164inf, MBA.

71 Brosens, Eighteenth-Century Brussels Tapestry.

72 Huygens, Mozes.

73 Brosens and Delmarcel, Les Aventures; Brosens, A Contextual Study, pp. 141–44 and 147–51.

74 Brosens, A Contextual Study, pp. 140 and 160–65.

75 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 26 July 1749. CG x145inf, MBA.

76 For the complex architectural history of the Hofburg, especially the ‘grande anti-chambre’, see M. Dreger, Baugeschichte der K.K. Hofburg in Wien bis zum XX. Jahrhundert (Vienna: Schroll, 1914), pp. 211, 235 and 277. Other extremely informative texts include O. Raschauer, ‘Die kaiserlichen wohn-und zeremonialräume in der Wiener Hofburg zur zeit der Kaiserin Maria Theresia’, Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, xcv(1958), pp. 283–90 and C. Benedik, ‘Die repräsentationsräume der Wiener Hofburg in der ersten hälfte des 18. jahrhunderts’, Das 18. Jahrhunderts und Österreich, vi (1990–1991), pp. 7–21.

77 Tarouca enclosed a copy of the invoice of 3 December 1743 with his letter. The set was 4½ ells in height and consisted of the following scenes: Village Fête (9 ells wide), Fish Market (8 ells wide), The Harvest (7¼ ells wide), Skating (5¼ ells wide), and Winter Scene (4 ells wide).

78 Series LI and LIV (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) bear the signatures of Jan Frans van der Borcht and his half-brother. The first of these consists of six tapestries, but the subjects differ from those mentioned in the invoice (see previous note); the second one consists of thirteen pieces. See E. von Birk, ‘Inventar der im besitze des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses befindlichen Niederländer tapeten und Gobelins’, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allehöchsten Kaiserhauses, ii (1884), pp. 171–73.

79 Jan and Peter II van der Borcht, Mémoire for Botta Adorno, 7 August 1749, CG x164inf, MBA.

80 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 27 August 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

81 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 16 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

82 De Reyniès, Jean Van Orley.

83 Brosens, Eighteenth-Century Brussels Tapestry.

84 Brosens, A Contextual Study, p. 122.

85 Lenôble was raised to the nobility in 1756, becoming Jakob Andreas Edler von Edlersberg.

86 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 19 and 29 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA. For the early history of the Hofmobilieninspektor en het Hofmobiliendepot, see E. Ottillinger and L. Hanzl, Kaiserliche Interieurs. Die Wohnkultur des Wiener Hofes im 19. Jahrhundert und die Wiener Kunstgewerbereform (Vienna: Böhlau, 1997), pp. 17–18.

87 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 27 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

88 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 30 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

89 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 3 September 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

90 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 6 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

91 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 19 and 20 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

92 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 26 August 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

93 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 27 August 1749, CG x145inf, MBA.

94 Contract, Botta Adorno and Van den Hecke, 30 August 1749, CG x164inf, #283, MBA.

95 For this Don Quixote set (T LII), see Birk, ‘Inventar der im Besitze des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses’, p. 171 and R. Bauer, ‘Szenen aus dem Roman Don Quijote’, Wohnen im Schloss. Tapisserien, Möbel, Porzellan und Kleider aus drei Jahrhunderten (Eisenstadt: Rötzer-Druck, 1991), pp. 86–95. Bauer pointed out that the wide borders were added later and that the pieces originally had only narrow interior borders.

96 In the original: ‘condescendre à notre [sic] proposition touchant les presents à faire convenablement aux ministres étrangers et autres de ces tapisseries’; Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 13 September 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

97 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 17 and 27 September 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

98 Jan and Peter II van der Borcht, Mémoire for Botta Adorno, 27 September 1749, CG x164inf, #265, MBA.

99 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 27 September 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

100 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 1 October 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

101 Tarouca, letter to Botta Adorno, 15 November 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.

102 Botta Adorno, letter to Tarouca, 8 October 1749, CG x146inf, MBA.