Kermés (Village feast)

When Don Pedro Acuña y Malvar died, he bequeathed his vast library and a large collection of tapestries from different creators and eras to Santiago Cathedral. Most of the pieces were woven at the Royal Factory in Santa Bárbara, during its first years of operation after it was founded by Phillip V in 1721. The works were influenced by "costumbrista" paintings done nearly 100 years previously by Flemish painters David Teniers and Philips Wouwerman, who both had prolific careers with works forming an important part of the royal collections.

Among the tapestries in the Cathedral Museum is one showing a "kermesse"—a 17th-century Dutch term used to refer to any kind of public festival. The original painting that inspired it is now kept at the Prado Museum in Madrid.

The cartoon for this tapestry was painted by David Teniers the Younger—son of the painter with the same name. He enjoyed great prestige in the mid-17th century and regularly worked with the various governors appointed by the Spanish monarchs in Flanders. Phillip IV often used to buy his works, which enhanced the royal collections and meant that, a century later, the pieces could be used to create the tapestries in the Spanish Royal Factory.