Ship of Fools: Xerxes / Charles II Haman/Cromwell

Thread: Xerxes / Charles II Haman/Cromwell Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

I was at a talk last night on, inter alia, Mary Jameson's tapestries. These are four huge C17th embroideries depicting scenes from the Bible and Apocrypha, hanging in St Nicholas Church, Aberdeen.

The third depicts Esther and others, kneeling before King Xerxes, with Haman's body hanging from a gibbet in the background. As with all four tapestries, all the figures are wearing contemporary C17th dress.

The speaker said that this was chosen as a subject for political reasons, alluding to the Restoration. King Xerxes represented King Charles II, and the executed Haman represented the Cromwells.

This seems a stretch to me.

It occurred to me that if parallels were being drawn at the time, there should be many examples of C17th church art on the same theme. Can anyone give any comparable examples?

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :

So who's Esther supposed to be in that scenario - Lady Castlemaine?

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

No idea!

I can't find an image of the tapestries online to link to.

It sounded implausible to me, but then my knowledge of C17th religious art / C17th art of any description is non-existent. ISTM that if Xerxes /Haman were treated as a metaphor for Charles / Cromwell, there should be other examples.

Posted by american piskie (# 593) on :

Do you think this is a confusion of Cromwells? A bit of googling reveals that Thomas was was attacked in a sermon as the Haman of his time. Oliver just doesn't seem to match the story line.

(I've only seen the Esther tapestries in Zaragoza, and I *think* that they are a compliment to the less than pukkah origins of the Aragones royal family.)

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

I wonder if the narrative reflected in the tapestries is of the attempted elimination of episcopal clergy/ worship under Cromwell (cf. Haman's attempt to exterminate the Jews), and their reinstatement under Charles II (Ahasuerus saving the Jews). The figure of Esther would remain something of a puzzle, unless she represents those faithful Episcopalians who encouraged, persuaded petitioned Charles II for the restoration of episcopal order in the Church. [Guessing really]

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

I'd always taken the tapestries as simple illustrations of Biblical stories. I was interested that there might be a political sub text.

Mary Jameson came from a family of artists. Her father was
George Jameson.

Although last night's speaker didn't touch on this, it's not known who designed the tapestries. It's been suggested they were designed by George Jamesone, and his daughter, and a team of other women, then spent the couple of decades after his death embroidering them. But George Jameson died prior to the accession of Charles II, so if he did design it, it can't have that political significance.

Without knowing anything about it, I'd always thought Mary Jameson might have designed them herself. They all show a central female character. (Pharoah's daughter with Moses, Esther, Susannah with the elders, and another)

However, if the Esther tapestry does have political undertones, then the important characters are Xerxes / Charles and Haman/ Cromwell.

I thought that if there were other similar images in existence, with a better known provenance, it might throw light on this one.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

After a bit of discussion, we are of the opinion that art history, even of church furnishings, is more suited to Heaven than here.

Prepare for Rapture, we're going up!

dj_ordinaire, Eccles host

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I've alluded before to this altarpiece in Weimar, which I think is the most extraordinary bit of Reformation agitprop. However, there's no attempt to allegorise: Cranach and Luther are presented in their habits as they lived.

However, I can see other artworks in the period of religious upheaval being more circumspect. And allegory was still a current and vital mode of expression for the period.

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

An Ashmolean Handbook by Mary M Brooks (Google preview) suggests that the themes of the Jameson panels were quite popular at the time with implied political references. (It may be relevant even though it relates to English embroideries.)

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

Thank you! That's very interesting.

I don't know the exact dates, but Pharoah's daughter finding Moses was the first in the series of Jameson embroideries. Pharoah's daughter and her maid servants are in C17th dress and, curiously, they appear to have found Moses in the river Don, with a couple of Aberdeen's buildings in the background.

It's curious that two of the Jameson tapestries map onto two in the Ashmolean in terms of date and subject.

Posted by Gildas (# 525) on :

I recall, from Macaulay's essay on John Bunyan, that when dissenters were released from prison by order of Charles II that Bunyan compared Chas. to Cyrus who, although, not one of God's Chosen People was, nevertheless one of their protectors. Clearly it's the wrong Persian Emperor but it shows that 17th Century people did think in those terms about their rulers.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

It is not just the British who were doing this. There is a museum in Nessebar, Bulgaria which has icons from this period (a time when Bulgaria was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks).

The political implications of having the Roman soldiers at the crucifixion in Turkish uniforms is very hard to miss. The Orthodox were doing this too.

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