Van Orley’s The Month of June is part of a series of tapestries called The Hunts of Maximilian [Les Chasses de Maximilien. The June episode depicts an elaborate Orley halt on the hunt [halte de chasse]at which Archduke Maximillian (later Emperor of Austria) is waiting to begin a feast. This a formal gathering fully catered by the archduke’s staff. A roast fowl has already been placed, and more food is on the way. Servants arrange to serve wine cooling in a stream drink placed on it.
* The tapestry is approximately 15 x 19 feet.
Featured Image: Bernard Van Orley. The Month of June: The Hunts of the Maximilian (1531-1533), tapestry, wool, silk, gold, and silver thread. Paris, Louvre; http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=14767&langue=en
See Bernard Van Orley. The Month of June: The Hunts of the Maximilian (1531-1533), Paris, Louvre; http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=14767&langue=en ; Duke of York Edward de Langley, The Master of Game. (1413). Edited by William A Baillie Grohman and F. Baillie-Groham. London: Ballantyne, Hanson, 1904. Reprint Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005; Henry L. Savage, “Hunting in the Middle Ages.” Speculum 8:1 (1933): 30-41