Jan Rost

(b Brussels, fl 1535; d Florence, 22 Jan 1564). Flemish tapestry-weaver. He was apparently trained in Brussels in a weaving tradition aesthetically close to that of the tapestry weaver Pieter van Aelst. Rost was an independent master by 1535 and signed with a roast on a spit, a pun on his name. A tapestry depicting the Rest after the Hunt (before 1536; Paris, Mus. Marmottan) bears the mark of Brussels and Rost's emblem. In 1536 Rost began work for Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara in the workshop of the brothers Giovanni Karcher and Nicolas Karcher. In August 1545 Rost founded his own workshop in Florence and for the next eight years he worked for Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and other private patrons. He began work on the series of the Story of Joseph (1546-53; ten, Florence, Sopr. B.A. & Storici Col., and ten, Rome, Pal. Quirinale; see FLORENCE,

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