On Tuesday 14 April 1874, Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927), the first Earl of Iveagh attended a sale at Christie, Manson & Woods in London where an important collection of decorative objects from the palaces of the Marquis de Salamanca was auctioned. Guinness purchased lots nos. 119, 120, 122, and 123 — four large 17th-century Italian embroidered wall hangings which now line the walls of the dining room at Farmleigh. The four panels were once part of two larger sets but the whereabouts of the matching panels is unknown. Farmleigh was bought by the Irish government in 1999 and the panels are currently on loan from the Guinness family. The hangings are large, measuring approximately 14ft x 9ft, and the subjects are mythological. Each of the four panels depicts a figure in a chariot viewed from a terrace through a decorative architectural framework. Tiny landscapes appear in the far distance depicting Italianate architecture, cypress and fruit trees. The terraces are populated with creatures that in some cases are associated with the god shown above. Three of the mythological figures are readily identifiable as the gods Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, through a number of conventional attributes sourced in ancient classical literature and formally established in the writings of Cesare Ripa (c.1560-1625). Venus, goddess of love (Fig 6), is seated in a chariot embellished with a scallop shell and drawn by a pair of doves. She carries the three golden apples awarded to her by Paris and a quiver of arrows, a reference to her son Cupid, a minor god of love. A pair of lovers form a charming vignette on the rear of her carriage further confirming her identity as the goddess of love. On the terrace the rabbit, symbol of fertility and the pair of pigeons, symbols of love and constancy are attributes often associated with Venus. Jupiter, a strident young male, stands in a chariot drawn by eagles (Fig 4). He carries a staff and thunderbolts, emblems of his supreme authority as God of Gods. The hog on the left of the terrace refers to mythology surrounding the birth of Jupiter who was suckled after birth by a sow, and the sow and hog became sacred to Jupiter thereafter. The creature to the right of the terrace remains a mystery, a strange hybrid having both wings and hooves (Fig 7). Saturn is depicted conventionally as a bearded elderly man with long silvery hair. He carries a scythe in his left hand and in his right hand a small child (Figs 2 & 5). The scythe refers to the mutilation of Uranus by his son Cronus, the Greek god identified with Saturn. The child is a reference to Saturn/Cronus devouring his children in order to prevent any one of them from challenging his authority in the future (Fig 2). Saturn rides in a chariot drawn by a pair of winged dragons with forked tongues and curling, scaled tails. A family of dogs on the terrace represent melancholy, the temperament associated with Saturn (Fig 3). Essential to the iconography of the panels is Ripa’s Iconologia of 1593, the illustrated version of which was published in 1603 and quickly became an iconographical handbook for artists in the 17th century. Ripa requires that the sign or sigil of the planet be included in representations of the planetary gods. Of particular significance therefore are the sigils that appear above the heads of the gods in the Venus, Jupiter and Saturn panels. Those on the Venus and Jupiter panels are the conventional astrological sigils associated with the planets of the same name, known to us in modern astrology. The sigil accompanying Saturn is however more obscure. Traced in an alchemical text published in Nuremburg in 1701 it symbolises lead, the metal associated with Saturn.1 From the Middle Ages astrology and alchemy were closely linked, and the sigils denoting the planets and their associated metals were interchangeable. The crossover of these disciplines explains the use of this particular sigil on the Saturn panel. The appearance of these astrological sigils on the embroideries confirms the subject matter of the panels as the Carri dei Sette Pianeti and suggests that the panels were part of a larger set depicting the Triumphs of the Seven Planetary Gods–Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, Mercury, Mars and Diana. The link between the iconography of the Farmleigh panels and Ripa’s Iconologia is even more apparent in the identification of the goddess in the fourth panel (Fig 1). A bejewelled black female, wearing a headdress formed from the scalp and trunk of an elephant, rides in a chariot drawn by a pair of lions. In her right hand she holds a cornucopia and a scorpion in her left. A snake curls out from behind her right arm. While the cornucopia immediately suggests Ceres, goddess of agriculture, Ripa confirms otherwise. This goddess reflects all of the elements prescribed in Ripa’s own woodcut for a personification of Africa, as one of the Four Parts of the World. It seems that the Africa panel was originally part of another set depicting the Four Parts of the World, a popular theme in late 17th-century art. A cloth label, found at Farmleigh in 1999, records information provided by the first Lady Iveagh, Adelaide Maria Guinness (1844-1916), concerning the embroidered panels. It notes that they came from the collection of Queen Maria Cristína of Spain at the Palacio de Vista Alegre, Madrid. Queen Maria Cristína was born in Naples in 1806, daughter of Francis I (1777-1830), king of the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Naples), and the Infanta Isabella (1789-1848) the daughter of Charles IV (1748-1819) of Spain. In 1829, Maria Cristína of the Two Sicilies married her uncle, Ferdinand VII (1784-1833), king of Spain and soon thereafter the royal couple began the construction of a palace with elaborate botanical gardens at Carabanchel on the outskirts of Madrid known as the Palacio de Vista Alegre. In 1859 the palace was purchased by José de Salamanca y Mayol (1811-1883), a successful businessman and politician who built the first railway lines in Spain. Salamanca had accumulated a notable collection of paintings, antique statuary and decorative objects that included five of the six paintings from the series of the Prodigal Son by Murillo which are now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. (The sixth in this series had been bought by Queen Isabella II of Spain in 1850 and presented to Pope Pius IX2) However by the end of the 1860s severe financial difficulties led to the sale of Salamanca’s art collections at a number of venues in Paris and London between the years 1867 and 1892, including that attended by Edward Cecil in London in 1874. The catalogue for the Salamanca sale in 1874 in London records that Edward Cecil paid a total of 289 guineas for lots 119, 120, 122 and 123 which he sent to be hung in Farmleigh around 1880.3 But the surprise is that he did not also purchase lot 121, a further panel in the Planetary set, described as depicting Apollo in his chariot drawn by four horses. This panel was purchased under the name of ‘Armytage’ for 76 guineas. It is also curious that Edward Cecil did not opt to buy the Apollo panel instead of the Africa panel. The former, as the Sun, shares the theme of the planetary gods with the Venus, Jupiter and Saturn panels. It is not known whether the Apollo panel is still extant or where it may be today. However its existence in 1874 suggests the Apollo, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn panels were indeed once part of a complete set depicting the Seven Planetary Gods. This theory is further supported by the presence of another panel matching those at Farmleigh which is now in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.4 This panel depicts Mercury riding in a chariot drawn by a pair of storks while the conventional astrological sigil for Mercury appears above the head of the god. It clearly matches the Farmleigh panels in terms of design and subject matter, Mercury being another of the seven planetary gods is further evidence that the complete set must also have included the Triumphs of Mars and Diana (the Moon). The panels are well designed, with the triumphs occupying a large area and imposing themselves on the viewer. Limbs, wings, tails, staff and scythe set up strong directional lines in the designs. The poses of the gods and putti, and the creatures drawing their chariots, are varied and dynamic in the Venus, Jupiter and Saturn panels. Drapery swirls, wings are spread, putti swing from curtains, all creating a strong sense of movement. The figure of Africa and her accompanying lions are somewhat more sedate by comparison. On all the panels the creatures on the terrace have a stillness about them that contrasts with those drawing the chariots. Their design seems less accomplished and disproportionate to the architecture, particularly in the awkward looking hare (Venus) and the family of dogs (Saturn). These discrepancies suggest that a different hand may have worked on this aspect of the design. The panels are embroidered in silk floss on linen in a needlepainting style using a variety of stitches. Needlepainting or acupitura is a technique whereby the entire ground fabric is covered with stitch (Fig 8). It attempts to emulate painting and to produce in thread the shading subtleties of the painter’s brush and to represent the subject in perspective in as much detail as possible. In Italy in the 17th century the needlepainting style was used on large-scale pictorial hangings such as those at Farmleigh. Naples was one of the main centres of production. It is therefore very probable that the Farmleigh panels originated in Naples, birthplace of Queen Maria Cristína. A set of five 17th-century Italian hangings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London are technically and stylistically close to the Farmleigh panels and depict scenes from the story of Rinaldo and Armida. They were acquired by the V&A in Naples in the 19th century.5 The principal stitching technique in the Farmleigh panels is laidwork. Silk threads of one or more shades of a colour are laid across the entire area to be embroidered. Fine threads of two or more strands are then placed across these threads at intervals and at right angles to the laid threads. These threads are then held down by tiny couched stitches. The technique is used when large areas need to be filled. This technique confines the silk to the surface of the work only, thus making good use of an expensive commodity. Laidwork on the Farmleigh panels covers the main background area around the figures, the architectural elements, the terrace, and the floral design on the pedestals. Couching is used to outline architectural details where a variety of cords highlight details such as fluting, base and capitals of the columns. Long and short stitch is effectively employed in the figures, animals and chariots to achieve subtle effects of shading. The successful use of this stitch requires a high degree of skill particularly in relation to the modelling of the figures if rows of different colours were to be seen to flow into one another as would paint. The painterly skills of the embroiderer are particularly well exemplified by Jupiter’s eagles and Africa’s lions. Other stitches used include tiny French knots used singly as fruit on the trees or in clusters to achieve a textured effect as on the trees in the Saturn panel (Fig 10). Embroidery as a surface technique is more vulnerable to wear and tear than tapestry which is a woven technique where design and ground are all of a piece. Laidwork is particularly vulnerable as the silk floss is held to the surface at intervals only (Fig 9). Should the stitches break down for any reason the floss is loosened and more prone to snagging, and the impact of the needlepainting style is reduced. Evidence of such damage is present on all of the Farmleigh panels and the Venus panel is particularly stressed. Colour in the panels has also been severely affected by over three centuries of exposure to natural and artificial light and the polychrome silks are considerably faded leaving the colour palate dominated by beige tones. Contemporary ecclesiastical embroideries attest to the original vibrancy of the coloured silks. However the needlepainting style remains impressive, and it seems that the Farmleigh panels are indeed part of a rare surviving heritage of 17th-century Italian pictorial embroidered wall hangings. Máire Byrne completed her dissertation on the Farmleigh panels as part of a Master’s Degree in Art History at UCD in 2003. She has since been commissioned by the OPW to undertake further research on the panels. If any readers of the Irish Arts Review have any knowledge of the ‘missing’ panels in Planetary Gods series, Mars, Mercury and Diana, the author would be very pleased to hear about them.