Pannemaker family

Family of 16th-century Flemish tapestry weavers, based in Brussels. The most famous tapestry weavers of their age, they worked for several European leaders and popes, but their main patrons were members of the Habsburg dynasty. One of their most important commissions, for Pope Leo X, was to weave a set of tapestries of New Testament subjects from cartoons by Raphael. (See Renaissance tapestry.)

Pieter I Pannemaker (active from 1510) was a follower of the artist Pieter van Aelst. Pieter was the first of his family to gain imperial patronage, with a commission from Maximilian I, and in 1523 he also worked for Margaret of Austria. Pieter II and Willem continued to work for the Habsburgs.

Among their prolific output was the series of 12 tapestries (completed in 1535) depicting Charles V's campaign to capture Tunis, after designs by the artist Vermeyen. At the end of the 1570s the pre-eminence of the Pannemakers was overtaken by the Geubels family.