8th Century Brussels Design Style
Together with hunting, pictures of the waging of war were always an essential part of the tapestry trade, due to its aristocratic clientele and their position on the battle field. Around the late 17th century it became popular practice to illustrate regularly recurring operations of contemporary warfare; pitching camp, ambuscades, plundering the population, the army on the march, transporting horses, etc; rather than illustrating precise historical feats of arms. The neutrality of the scenes gained an unprecedented success among all the warriors of Europe.

The “Art of War” was woven after Campement from the series the Art of War from the Brussels workshop of Judocus De Vos, designed by Lambert de Hondt between 1715 and 1724. In this scene we see a trumpeter sounding the “stand down”. The officers around him dismount and are welcomed by a woman. The background displays a lovely countryside setting. The borders are adorned with military attributes: arms, banners, drums and standard military equipment.