Meleager and Atalanta Setting Out to Hunt the Calydonian Boar

This tapestry (originally even larger) was woven on a single loom for the great hall of a nobleman's estate. It provided insulation against winter cold and decoration for an otherwise austere environment.
Here the young Greek prince Meleager prepares to hunt the Calydonian Boar, a story told by the Roman poet, Ovid. Meleager gathers heroes of ancient Greece - including Jason, Theseus, Nestor, and Peleus - to chase the savage wild boar sent by the goddess Diana to ravage the lands of his father the king of Calydon. In front of the left column is the brave and beautiful Atalanta, later beloved of Meleager. She will kill the boar with a lance (held by an attendant).
Hunting wild boar was a privilege reserved to the nobility and was validated and glorified in the eyes of contemporaries by representations of heroic hunts from the mythic past such as this one.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Raoul Heilbronner, Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date of acquisition unknown] by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.