Habsburg treasures: Renaissance tapestries from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

From the museum website, 17 March 2010

The tapestry collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, is one of the greatest in existence. Richly woven with silk, wool, and gold thread, these eight gigantic wall hangings were made for the Hapsburg emperors at the famous Brussels atelier of Frans Geubels. They depict one of the most beloved secular themes in the 16th-century repertoire of Flemish tapestry-making: the legendary founding of ancient Rome by Romulus and Remus. The series begins with the birth of the two brothers, when they were placed in a basket and set afloat on the Tiber River, and ends with the legendary Rape of the Sabine Women.