Catalogue of the Retrospective Loan Exhibition of European TapestriesSan Francisco Museum of Art
History
Catalogue of the Retrospective Loan Exhibition of European Tapestries
San Francisco Museum of Art
Tapestry -- Exhibitions
_The Vintage_ No. 5
]
[Illustration:
_Entombment on Millefleurs_ No. 8
]
This piece was probably woven under Pasquier Grenier at Tournai, as were
the _Wars of Troy_, on which there are some documents.
[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]
This tapestry presents with extraordinary vividness the fury, din,
excessive effort, hot excitement, and blinding confusion of crowded
hand-to-hand conflicts that marked mediæval warfare. It must have been
conceived and rendered by an eye-witness who knew how to select and
assemble the raw facts of the situation with such honesty and directness
that an overwhelming impression of force and tumult is created, and it was
woven for patrons, the fighting Dukes of Burgundy, by whom every gruesome
incident would be observed with relish and every fine point of individual
combat noted with a shrewd and appraising eye.
[Sidenote: 8]
FRANCE, END XV CENTURY
[Sidenote:
_Wool._
H. 2 _ft._ 10 _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 10 _in._
]
ENTOMBMENT ON MILLEFLEURS: _Christ lies on the tomb which is inscribed
"Humani Generis Redeptori." John in a red cloak, the Virgin in a blue
cloak over a red brocaded dress, and Mary Magdalene in a red cloak over
a green dress stand behind the tomb. At the head, removing the crown of
thorns, stands Joseph of Arimathea and at the foot Nicodemus. Both Joseph
and Nicodemus are in richly brocaded robes. Borders at the sides only
of alternate blue and red squares inscribed I H S and M A surrounded by
jeweled frames. Millefleurs on a blue ground. In the upper left corner the
monogram I S and in the upper right W S, with a scroll under each bearing
the inscription "de Mailly."_
This tapestry is an unusually delicately and perfectly rendered example of
the _millefleurs aux personnages_ of France of the late Gothic period. A
small piece like this was undoubtedly made for a private chapel, probably
that of the de Mailly family. This quality of millefleurs was probably
woven in Touraine. An altar frontal showing the Pieta which is very
similar in style is in the Kunstgewerbe Museum.
[Sidenote: Lent by _Demotte_.]
The drawing has the nice exactness of a finished miniature, the
workmanship the brilliance of enamel; yet both are transfigured by the
vivid conception of the tragic event. Its utter pathos is expressed with
moving power. We are in the presence of an unutterably solemn moment.
[Sidenote: 9]
FRANCE, END XV CENTURY
[Sidenote:
_Wool and Silk._
H. 4 _ft._ 6 _in._
W. 3 _ft._
]
MILLEFLEURS ARMORIAL WITH WILD MEN: _On a delicate millefleurs ground a
wild man and woman hold an armorial shield surmounted by a winged helmet._
[Sidenote: Formerly in the C. D. Barney Collection.]
[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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