Pannemaeker

1517–32), working from Brussels, was a celebrated weaver who, for European royalty, created tapestries resplendent with gold and silver threads, and expensive fine silks and woollen items.

In 1520, Pieter de Pannemaeker commissioned the artist Bernard van Orley to make tapestry cartoons for his workshop.

Pannemaeker was court weaver to Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Southern Netherlands, who commissioned the Passion in four parts, and in 1523, she ordered an imposing dais made up of three tapestries, which later featured in the abdication ceremony of Emperor Charles V. In 1527, Pieter de Pannemaeker and van Orley were brought before the Inquisition at Leuven for attending the Protestant sermons of Lutheran preacher Claes van der Elst.

Pieter's son Willem (1514–1581) became an extremely influential figure in the weaving industry, his mark being found on many works acquired by the House of Habsburg between the 1540s and 1560s.

From cartoons by Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, Willem produced the twelve-piece Conquest of Tunis for Emperor Charles V, a landmark work created from 1546 to 1554.