Presence and Use of Tapestries in 16th-century Palencia

Abstract

Tapestries were for centuries highly valued art pieces, as they contributed to display their owners’ status, taste or intellectual concerns both in the public and in the private sphere. We have evidence of the existence of interesting series of tapestries in 16^th-century Palencia, an aspect that will be discussed in this paper. Likewise, we here attempt to analyse the various issues regarding the presence and use of tapestries in the cathedral of Palencia at that time, especially in the case of those items donated by Bishop Don Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca.