Botta Adorno, Empress Maria Theresa and Brussels Tapestry. Part II. (May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brosens, Koenraad
• Is Part Of: Textile history. Volume 46:Number 1(2015)
• Page Start: 50
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2015-05
• Subjects: Textile fabrics -- History -- Periodicals; Textile industry -- History -- Periodicals; Clothing and dress -- History -- Periodicals; 746.09005
• DOI: 10.1179/0040496915Z.00000000057
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-4969

Abstract

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. This second article describes the way in which Botta Adorno made the project a reality and examines the strategies devised by the Minister and the Brussels tapissiers and the context in which they sought to apply them.