ABSTRACT
For historical reasons, the most important collections of tapestries are found in the south of Germany. While, up until the eighteenth century, the north of the country was made up of free towns or small, relatively impoverished states, the south was controlled by dynasties connected to the great noble families of Europe who adopted their way of life. The Wittelsbach family, which controlled Bavaria from the eleventh to the twentieth century, owned the most important collection of tapestries in Germany. The rulers of this duchy, who were connected to the great ruling families of Europe, particularly the Habsburgs and the Valois, collected an imposing number of these works of art through the course of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Wittelsbach collection of about 500 pieces is made up of prestigious sets of tapestries bought in Flanders, particularly in Brussels, made in the two manufactories founded successively – the first at the beginning of the seventeenth century which functioned for 10 years, the second at the beginning of the eighteenth century which lasted for 100 years. A very large part of this collection has been handed down to us.
