Floris Jespers for Bracquenié, Belgian Settlers Landing on Manhattan Island in 1623, 1939. Wool, cotton, silk, ca. 16 x 19 feet. New-York Historical Society, Gift of the Belgian Government through Foreign Minister Paul van Zeeland and New York City’s 300th Anniversary Committee, 1953.190

Floris Jespers was commissioned to design five tapestries celebrating Belgian history for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. One was this masterpiece whose bold, flat Art Deco style harmonizes to that of Picasso’s Le Tricorne painted curtain.

The Belgians, who founded New York, are depicted in several scenes including: the arrival of Henry Hudson and the Half Moon (1609); the 1624 arrival of the eight Walloons (French-speaking Belgians) on the Nieu Nederlandt who founded the city of “Novum Belgium,” seen at the upper left with its windmill and fort; and the 1626 purchase by Peter Minuit of Manhattan Island for $24.