Chapter II: Part 2

During this gradual change through five hundred years in the artistic qualities of tapestry the technical tricks of the weavers underwent corresponding modification. In the Gothic period the drawing depended primarily upon a strong dark outline, black or brown, that was unbroken, and that was especially important whether the design was affiliated rather with panel painting (cf. No. 1) or with the more graphic miniature illustration (cf. No. 5). Even the lesser accessories were all drawn in clear outline. Within a given color area, transitions from tone to tone were made by hatchings, little bars of irregular length of one of the shades that fitted into alternate bars of the other shade, like the teeth of two combs interlocked. And for shadows and emphasis of certain outlines, some of the Gothic weavers had a very clever trick of dropping stitches (cf. No. 1), so that a series of small holes in the fabric takes the place of a dark line. During the Renaissance the outline becomes much narrower, and is used only for the major figures, a device that sometimes makes the figures look as if they had been cut out and applied to the design. Hatching, if used at all, is much finer than in the earlier usage, consisting now of only single lines of one color shading into the next. In the work of Fontainbleau (cf. Nos. 36, 37), the dotted series of holes between colors is still used to give a subordinate outline. During the XVIIth century hatching is scarcely used at all, and the outline has practically disappeared. During the XVIIIth century the French weavers perfected a trick which obviated any break in the weave where the color changes, thus enabling tapestry to approximate even closer to painting effects.

To the weavers who adjusted these tricks to the varying demands of the cartoons, and so translated painted patterns in a woven fabric, is due quite as much credit for the finished work of art as to the painters who first made the design. Famous painters did prepare tapestry designs. Aside from the masters of the Middle Ages to whom tapestries are attributed, we have positive evidence that, among others, Jacques Daret, Roger Van der Weyden, Raphael, Giulio Romano (cf. Nos. 23-25), Le Brun, Rubens, Coypel (cf. Nos. 62, 63), Boucher (cf. Nos. 67, 68), Watteau, Fragonard (cf. No. 69), and Vernet (cf. No. 70), all worked on tapestry designs. The master weavers who could transpose their designs deserve to rank with them in honor.

Yet we know relatively little of these master weavers. Many names of tapicers appear in tax-lists and other documents, but not until the XVIIIth century do the names often represent to us definite personalities, and until then we can only occasionally credit a man with his surviving work. From the long lists of names and the great numbers of remaining tapestries a few only can be connected. Among the greatest of these is Nicolas Bataille, of Paris, who wove the famous set of the _Apocalypse_ now in the Cathedral of Angers; Pasquier Grenier, of Tournai, to whom the _Wars of Troy_ and related sets can be accredited (cf. No. 7), but who apparently was an _entrepreneur_ rather than a weaver; Pieter Van Aelst, who was so renowned that the cartoons of Raphael were first entrusted to him; William Pannemaker, another Brussels man, who had supreme taste and skill, and his relative Pierre, almost as skilful; Marc Comans and François de la Planche, the Flemings who set up the looms in Paris that developed into the Gobelins (cf. No. 38); Jean Lefébvre, who worked first in the gallery of the Louvre and then had his studio in the Gobelins (cf. Nos. 39, 40); the Van der Beurchts, of Brussels (cf. Nos. 42, 56), and Leyniers (cf. Nos. 26, 27), and Cozette, most famous weaver of the Gobelins. Such men as these, and many more whose names are lost or are neglected because we do not know their work, were in their medium as important artists as the painters whose designs they followed.

With the passing of such master craftsmen the art of tapestry died. When men must compete with machines their work is no more respected, and so tapestry is no longer the natural medium of expression for the culture of the times. Tapestries are still being made, but there is no genuine vitality in the art and little merit in its product. It exists today only as an exhausted and irrelevant persistence from the past, and, as a fine art, doomed to failure and ultimate extinction.

P.A.

_The Annunciation_ No. 1
]

_The Chase_ No. 2
]

CATALOGUE

_Abbreviations_: H. (_Height_); W. (_Width_); _ft._ (_Feet_); _in._ (_Inches_). _"Right" & "Left," refer to right & left of the spectator_

[Sidenote: 1]

FRANCO-FLEMISH, POSSIBLY ARRAS, BEGINNING OF XV OR END OF XIV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool, Silk, Gold._
H. 11 _ft._ 4 _in._
W. 9 _ft._ 6 _in._
]

THE ANNUNCIATION: _The Virgin, in a blue robe lined with red, is seated before a reading-desk in a white marble portico with a tile floor. Behind her is a red and metal gold brocade. The lily is in a majolica jar. The angel, in a green robe with yellow high lights lined with red, has alighted in a garden without. In the sky, God the Father holding the globe and two angels bearing a shield._

The treatment of the sky in two-toned blue and white striations, as well as the conventional landscape without perspective, with small oak and laurel trees, is characteristic of a number of tapestries of the opening years of the XVth century. Most of them depicted hunting scenes. But there was one famous religious piece, the _Passion_ of the Cathedral of Saragossa. In the drawing of the figures and some of the details the piece is closely related to the paintings of that Paris school of which Jean Malouel is the most famous member. The work is by no means by Malouel, but it is similar to that of one of his lesser contemporaries, whose only known surviving work is a set of six panels painted on both sides, two of which are in the Cuvellier Collection at Niort and the others in the Mayer Van der Bergh Collection at Antwerp. The very primitively rendered Eternal Father is almost identical with the one that appears in several of the panels; the roughly indicated shaggy grass is the same, the rather unusual angle of the angel's wings recurs in the Cuvellier _Annunciation_, as does the suspended poise of the Virgin's attitude. The Virgin's reading-desk, too, is almost identical, though shown in the panel at the other side of the scene. The long, slim-fingered hands and the pointed nose and chin of the Virgin are characteristic of the school.

The tiles in the portico, so carefully rendered, are of interest because they are very similar to the earliest-known tile floor still in position--that of the Caracciolo Chapel in Naples. Some of the same patterns are repeated, notably that of the Virgin's initial and the star, which is more crudely rendered. The colors, too, are approximately the same, the brown being a fair rendering of the manganese purple of the chapel tiles. The majolica vase is also interesting as illustrating a type of which few intact examples are left.

[Sidenote: Exhibited:

_Chicago Art Institute, Gothic Exhibition_, 1921.]

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

The piece maintains a high level of æsthetic expression. The religious emotion is intensely felt and is adequately conveyed in the wistful sadness of the Virgin's face and the expectant suspense of her poised body. The portico seems removed from reality and flooded by a direct heavenly light, in its shining whiteness contrasting with the deep blue-green background. This tapestry by virtue of its intense and elevated feeling, purified by æsthetic calm and by its exceptional decorative vividness, ranks with the very great masterpieces of the graphic arts.

[Sidenote: 2]

FRANCO-FLEMISH, EARLY XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Gold._
H. 5 _ft._ 5 _in._
W. 5 _ft._ 11 _in._
]

THE CHASE: _A man in a long dark-blue coat and high red hat and a lady in a brown brocade dress and ermine turban watch a dog in leather armor attack a bear. A landscape with trees and flowers is indicated without perspective and a castle in simple outline is projected against a blue and white striated sky._

[Sidenote: Exhibited:

_South Kensington Museum, French-English Retrospective Exhibition of Textiles_, 1921.]

This tapestry is an important example of a small group of hunting scenes of the early XVth century. It is closely related in style to the famous pair of large hunting tapestries in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire. It is not definitely known where any of these pieces were woven, but Arras is taken as a safe assumption, as that was the center of weaving at the time, and these tapestries are the finest production known of the period.

The very simple figures sharply silhouetted against the contrasting ground have a decidedly architectural quality, perfectly adapted to mural decoration. Yet the scene seems very natural and the persons have marked and attractive personalities.

[Sidenote: Illustrated:

_La Renaissance de l'Art français_, 1921, p. 104; _Burlington_, vol. 38, opp. p. 171. _DeMotte, Les Tapisseries gothiques_, Deuxième Série.]

These exceedingly rare pieces mark the great wave of naturalism that began sweeping over Europe about 1350 and they exemplify strikingly one of the finest qualities of the primitive--the impressive universality and objectivity that come from the freshness of the artist's vision. Looking straight at the thing itself, free from all the presuppositions that come from an inherited convention, the draftsman saw the essentials and recorded them directly without any confusing elaboration of technique. He was completely absorbed by the unsolved problems of the task, too occupied with the difficulty of rendering the central outstanding features of the scene to be diverted by personal affectations. His realization thus became vivid and intimate, his rendition achieved a singularity and epic force never again to be found in tapestry.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Demotte_.]

This is one of the few tapestries that have been improved by age. Time has spread over it a slight gray bloom that seems to remove it from the actual world, giving it the isolation that is so important a factor in æsthetic effect; yet the depth and strength of the colors have not been weakened, for we interpret the grayness as a fine veil through which the colors shine with their original purity.

[Sidenote: 3]

FLANDERS, MIDDLE XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 15 _ft._ 7 _in._
W. 14 _ft._ 7 _in._
]

THE ANNUNCIATION, THE NATIVITY, AND THE ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE SHEPHERDS: _At the left in a Gothic chapel the Annunciation. The Virgin, in a richly jeweled and brocaded robe, reads the Holy Book. The angel in rich robes kneels before her. The lilies are in a dinanderie vase. Through the open door a bit of landscape is seen, and in a room beyond the chapel two women sit reading. The Nativity, at the right, is under a pent roof. The Virgin, Joseph, and Saint Elizabeth kneel in adoration about the Holy Babe, who lies on the flower-strewn grass. John kneels in front of his mother, and in the foreground an angel also worships. Above and beyond the stable the three shepherds sit tending their flocks, and an angel bearing the announcement inscribed on a scroll flutters down to them from Heaven. Oak-trees, rose-vines, and blossoming orange-trees in the grass._

_The Annunciation, The Nativity, and The Announcement to the
Shepherds_ No. 3
]

_Scenes from the Roman de la Rose_ No. 4
]

This tapestry belongs to a small and very interesting group, all evidently the work of one designer. The three famous _Conversations Galantes_ (long erroneously called the _Baillée des Roses_) in the Metropolitan Museum are by the same man, as are the four panels of the _History of Lohengrin_ in Saint Catherine's Church, Cracow, the fifth fragmentary panel of the series being in the Musée Industrielle, Cracow. A fragment from the same designer showing a party of hunters is in the Church of Notre Dame de Saumur de Nantilly, and another fragment depicting a combat is in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs. Three small fragments--one with a single figure of a young man with a swan, like the Metropolitan pieces, on a striped ground, another showing a king reading in a portico very similar to the portico of the _Annunciation_, and the third showing a group of people centered about a king--were in the Heilbronner Collection.

Schmitz points out[1] a connection between the three Metropolitan pieces and the series of seven pieces depicting the life of Saint Peter in the Beauvais Cathedral, with an eighth piece in the Cluny Musée, and it is quite evident that the cartoons are the work of the same man. But whereas the other pieces all have the same characteristics in the weaving, this series shows a somewhat different technique in such details as the outline and the hatchings, so that one must assume they were woven on another loom.

Fortunately, there is documentary information on one set of the type that enables us to say definitely where and when the whole group was made. The _Lohengrin_ set was ordered by Philip the Good from the first Grenier of Tournai in 1462. There can be no reasonable doubt that the set in Saint Catherine's Church is the same, for in this set the knight is quite apparently modeled after Duke Philip himself, judging from the portraits of him in both the _Romance of Gerard de Rousillon_ (Vienna Hof-bibliothèque) and in the _History of Haynaut_ (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels).

Schmitz asserts that it is almost certainly useless to seek the author of these cartoons among contemporary painters, as they are probably the work of a professional cartoon painter, of which the Dukes of Burgundy kept several in their service--and this is probably true. But artists were not as specialized then as they are now, and even a professional tapestry designer might very well on occasion turn his hand to illustrating a manuscript or making a sketch for an enamel, so that it is not impossible that further research in the other contemporary arts may bring to light more information about this marked personality who created so individual a style.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Duveen Brothers_.]

This tapestry is exceedingly interesting, not only for its marked style of drawing and its quaint charm, but for the direct sincerity of the presentation and the brilliant and rather unaccustomed range of colors.

[Sidenote: 4]

FLANDERS, MIDDLE XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 8 _ft._ 4 _in._
W. 20 _ft._ 4 _in._
]

[Sidenote: Formerly in Skipton Castle, Ireland.]

SCENES FROM THE ROMAN DE LA ROSE: _This piece illustrates one of the most popular romances of the Middle Ages, the Romance of the Rose, the first part of which was written in 1337 by Guillaume de Lorris, the second part in_ 1378 _by Jean de Meung, and translated into English by Chaucer. The culminating scenes are represented. Jealousy has imprisoned Bel Acceuil in a tower because he helped the Lover see the Rose after Jealousy had forbidden it. The Lover calls all his followers, Frankness, Honor, Riches, Nobility of Heart, Leisure, Beauty, Courage, Kindness, Pity, and a host of others, to aid him in rescuing the prisoner. In the course of the struggle Scandal, one of Jealousy's henchmen, is trapped by two of the Lover's followers posing as Pilgrims, who cut his throat and cut out his tongue. With the aid of Venus, the Lover finally wins._

[Sidenote: Exhibited:

_Chicago Art Institute, Gothic Exhibition_, 1921.]

The piece is very close in drawing to the illustrations of the Master of the Golden Fleece,[2] whom Lindner has identified as Philip de Mazarolles. The long bony, egg-shaped heads that look as if the necks were attached as an afterthought, the shoe-button eyes, flat mouths, and peaked noses all occur in his many illustrations. Characteristic of him, too, are the crowded grouping of the scene and the great care in presenting the accessories, every gown being an individual design, whereas many of his contemporary illustrators contented themselves with rendering the general style without variations. The conventional trees are probably the weaver's interpolations. The top of the tapestry being gone, there is no possibility of knowing whether his customary architectural background was included or not.

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

The tapestry is interesting, not only because it is quaint, but because it is a vivid illustration of the spirit of the time--virile, cruel, yet self-consciously moralistic.

[Sidenote: 5]

FLANDERS, MIDDLE XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 10 _ft._ 9 _in._
W. 17 _ft._ 5½ _in._
]

THE VINTAGE: _This piece was probably originally one of a series of the Months, representing September. Groups of lords and ladies have strolled down from the castle in the background to watch the peasants gathering and pressing the grapes._

[Sidenote: Formerly in the Collection of Edouard Aynard, Paris.]

[Sidenote: Exhibited:

_Exhibition of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Old Palace of Sagan, Paris_, 1913.]

The costumes and the drawing indicate that the piece was made in Burgundy at the time of Philip the Good. In fact, it is so close to the work of one of the most prolific of the illustrators who worked for Philip the Good that it is safe to assume that the original drawing for the cartoons was his work. In the pungency of the illustration and the vivacity of the episodes as well as in numerous details it follows closely the characteristics of Loysot Lyedet. Here are the same strong-featured faces with large prominent square mouths, the same exaggeratedly long and thin legs with suddenly bulging calves on the men, the same rapidly sketched flat hands, and the same attitudes. The very exact drawing of the bunches of grapes parallels the exactness with which he renders the household utensils in his indoor scenes, and the dogs, while they are of types familiar in all the illustrations of the time, have the decided personalities and alert manner that he seemed to take particular pleasure in giving them.

[Sidenote: Reproduced:

_Les Arts_, Sept., 1913; _Gazette des Beaux Arts_, 1913.]

Another tapestry that seems to be from the same hand is _Le Bal de Sauvages_ in l'Eglise de Nantilly de Saumur.

The piece is one of the most vivid and convincing illustrations of the life of the time that has come down to us in tapestry form. The silhouetting of the figures against contrasting colors and the structural emphasis of the vertical lines give the design great clarity and strength.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Jacques Seligmann & Company_.]

Loysot Lyedet was working for the Dukes of Burgundy in 1461. He died
about 1468. Among the most famous of his illustrations are those
of the _History of Charles Martel_ (Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels)
_History of Alexander_ (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris) and the
_Roman History_ (Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris.)

[Sidenote: 6]

GERMANY, PROBABLY NUREMBERG, MIDDLE XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Gold._
H. 3 _ft._ 6 _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 6 _in._
]

SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF CHRIST: _The Life of Christ is shown in eight small scenes, beginning with the Entrance into Jerusalem, the Farewell to his Mother, the Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Pieta, and the Entombment._

The scenes in this tapestry were apparently adapted from the illustrations from a Nuremberg manuscript of the middle of the XVth century. Of course, the weaving may have been done later. The simplified arrangement of the scenes with a reduction to a minimum of the number of actors, the relative size of the figures to the small squares of the compositions, the marked indebtedness in the use of line and light and shade to woodcuts, and the courageous but not altogether easy use of the direct profile, all bring the pieces into close relationship with such book illustrations as those of George Pfinzing's book of travels (_The Pilgrimage to Jerusalem_), now in the City Library of Nuremberg.[3] In fact, the parallelism is so very close, the tapestry may well have been adapted from illustrations by the same man, the curiously conventionalized line-and-dot eyes being very characteristic of the Pfinzing illustrations and not common to all the school.

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

In weaving many of the figures the warp is curved to follow the contours.

The naïve directness and unassuming sincerity of the piece give it great interest.

[Sidenote: 7]

TOURNAI, THIRD QUARTER XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 10 _ft._ 6 _in._
W. 8 _ft._ 9 _in._
]

THE HISTORY OF HERCULES: _Hercules, clad in a magnificent suit of shining black armor, rides into the thickest tumult of a furious battle; with sword in his right hand, he skillfully parries the thrust of a huge lance, while with the other hand he deals a swinging backhand blow that smites an enemy footman into insensibility. His next opponent, obviously bewildered and frightened, has half-turned to flee. The whole apparatus of mediæval combat is shown in intense and crowded action. The piece is incomplete._

This tapestry illustrates one of the favorite stories of the Middle Ages, and was undoubtedly originally one of a set. In design it is closely related to the famous _Wars of Troy_ series, many examples of which are known and some of the first sketches for which are in the Louvre. It is also closely related to the _History of Titus_ set in the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Nantilly de Saumur.[4] Both of these sets are signed by Jean Van Room, and this piece also is undoubtedly from his cartoon. All of these pieces were probably woven between 1460 and 1470.

Jean Van Room (sometimes called de Bruxelles) is one of the most interesting personalities connected with the history of Gothic tapestry. He was a cartoon painter and probably conducted a large studio, judging from the number of pieces of his which are left to us. Fortunately, he had a habit of signing his name on obscure parts of the designs, such as the borders of garments. His work extends over sixty years and changes markedly in style during that time, adapting itself to the changing taste of his clients. This piece illustrates his earliest manner. In the succeeding decades he is more and more affected by the Renaissance and the Italian influence, until his latest pieces (cf. No. 21) are quite unlike these first designs. At the close of the century he began to collaborate with Maître Philippe, evidently a younger man, who had had Italian instruction and was less restrained by early Gothic training (cf. Nos. 17-19).

Jean Van Room seems to have done designs for enamels, also, that were executed in the studio of the so-called Monvaerni. In the collection of Otto H. Kahn is a _Jesus before Pilate_ very close in style to Jean Van Room's early work,[5] on which appear the letters M E R A, which might even be a pied misspelling of Room, for similar confused signatures appear on tapestries known to be his. A triptych with _Crucifixion_ in the collection of Charles P. Taft[6] has figures very close to the _Crucifixion_ tapestry in the Cathedral of Angers done by Van Room in his middle period. According to Marquet de Vasselot, this enamel bears the letters JENRAGE, but M. de Vasselot also comments on its illegibility in the present condition of the enamel. Could he have misread a letter or two? Still another triptych with _Crucifixion_, in the Hermitage,[7] actually repeats two figures from the Angers _Crucifixion_ with only very slight variations.

Jean Van Room borrowed liberally from various other artists at different stages of his career. In the _Wars of Troy_, the _History of Titus_, and this piece he seems to have relied primarily on Jean le Tavernier for his models, the affiliation being especially close in the _Wars of Troy_. Le Tavernier is known to have illustrated the _Wars of Troy_,[8] and Jean Van Room, judging from the close stylistic relations of his Troy tapestries with le Tavernier's drawings, evidently took his hints from this lost manuscript.

_The Vintage_ No. 5
]

_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_.]

The wild men, probably a modified revival of the classical satyrs in modified form, were very popular in France in the XIIIth and XIVth centuries. There are tapestries extant depicting the balls where all the company came dressed in hairy tights to represent these creatures. Froissart recounts an episode of a ball at the Hotel St. Pol in Paris in 1392 when the king and five of his companions came in such costumes, all chained together, and the flax used to imitate the hair caught fire from a torch, so that in an instant all were enveloped in flames. The king was saved by the presence of mind of his cousin, who enveloped him in her skirts, and another was saved by jumping into a tub of water he had noticed earlier in the evening in an adjacent service-room. The others were burned to death.

[Sidenote: 10]

FRANCE, BEGINNING XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 7 _ft._ 10 _in._
W. 10 _ft._ 7 _in._
]

MILLEFLEURS WITH SHEPHERDS AND THE SHIELD OF THE RIGAUT FAMILY: _Against a background of conventionalized millefleurs, shepherds and shepherdesses and their flock. In the center, two peasants holding a shield, evidently of the Rigaut family. In the corners the shield of Rigaut and of another family. The tapestry was evidently made to celebrate a marriage, the corner shields signifying the joining of the families, an oblique reference being intended in the pairing of the shepherds and shepherdesses. A scroll in the center bears the inscription "Par Içi Passe Rigaut."_

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

The naïveté both of the characterization and of the drawing that emphasizes the structural and silhouette character of the figures contributes greatly to the charm of this piece. The clean, sharp rendering of the millefleurs enhances the decorative effect. The piece is probably the work of a small provincial loom.

[Sidenote: 11]

FRANCE, PROBABLY LA MARCHE, BEGINNING XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 5 _ft._ 7 _in._
W. 9 _ft._ 4 _in._
]

MILLEFLEURS WITH ANIMALS: _Against a large-scale millefleurs ground on blue, deer are playing about a fountain within a paddock. On a fence-post perches a peacock. Outside the fence a fox waits, watching slyly. In the background conventional castles._

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

The floreation is rather unusual, as it shows the transition from the Gothic millefleurs to the Renaissance verdure. The enlarged scale of the flowers and the use of the iris and the scrolled thistle-leaves in the foreground show the influence of the Renaissance, but the daisies and wild roses are still Gothic in feeling, as are the unusually charming and vivacious deer. The conventional rendering of the water is skillfully managed. The sly fox is especially well characterized.

_Millefleurs with Shepherds and the Shield of the Rigaut Family_
No. 10
]

_Pastoral Scene_ No. 13
]

[Sidenote: 12]

FRANCE, PROBABLY LA MARCHE, EARLY XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 4 _ft._ 5 _in._
W. 9 _ft._ 5 _in._
]

MILLEFLEURS WITH ANIMALS: _Millefleurs with animals on a blue ground. At the top a narrow strip of conventionalized hilly landscape._

[Sidenote: Lent by _Dikran K. Kelekian_.]

Many tapestries of this type were woven in France at the end of the XVth and beginning of the XVIth century. They are one of the most successful types of tapestry decoration, the quaint animals in this piece being especially charming, and one of the most generally useful kinds of wall decoration, so that the demand for them was large and continuous. As a result, the style was produced almost without modification for over a hundred years. Only the bit of landscape at the top indicates that this was woven in the beginning of the XVIth century and not in the middle of the XVth.

[Sidenote: 13]

FRANCE, LATE XV CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 9 _ft._ 6 _in._
W. 9 _ft._
]

PASTORAL SCENE: _Two ladies have strolled into the country with their lords, who are on the way to the hunt, one with a falcon and the other with a spear and dog. On the way they have stopped to talk to a group of peasants who are tending their flocks and to play with their children. One young peasant girl is gathering a basket of grapes._

Such peasant scenes as this were much in demand during the XVth century. A piece very similar both in general spirit and in detailed drawing and facial types is in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs. In this two lords are watching a large group of woodcutters.

[Sidenote: Formerly in the De Zolte Collection.]

The piece is an excellent illustration of the clarity of French design. Each figure stands out almost entirely detached against the background. Yet, nevertheless, the naturalness of the grouping is not sacrificed. The piece conveys extraordinarily the impression of a real scene, a common daily occurrence among people that we might reasonably expect to know, at which we are allowed to be present in spite of the intervening four hundred years.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Duveen Brothers_.]

Some of the tricks of drawing and the types portrayed are so very similar to those in some of the stained-glass windows of St. Etienne du Mont and of St. Germain-l'Auxerrois the cartoons must be by members of the same school, one of the groups of l'Ile de France, and may quite possibly be by the same man.

[Sidenote: 14-16]

FLANDERS, FIRST QUARTER XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._

No. 14:
H. 11 _ft._ 6 _in._
W. 14 _ft._ 2 _in._
]

[Sidenote:

No. 15:
H. 10 _ft._ 9 _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 3½ _in._

No. 16:
H. 11 _ft._
W. 10 _ft._ 5 _in._
]

THREE PIECES FROM A SERIES ILLUSTRATING THE CREED: _This series of scenes illustrating the Creed begins_ (_No._ 14) _with the Creation of the World_. _The designer, evidently with some allegorical poem in mind, includes in the scene Sapientia, Potencia, and Benignitas, depicted, in characteristic medieval form, as three richly dressed women. In the center scene these three offer the world to God. On the right, Gubernacio, Redempcio, and Caritas stand under the throne of the Trinity._

_In the second piece_ (_No._ 15) _the series continues with the Life of Christ_, _beginning with the Annunciation_, _the Nativity_, _and the Adoration of the Kings_.

_Reverting to the older tradition of the XIVth century that had been almost displaced during the XVth century_, _all the events of Christ's public life are omitted_, _and the third piece_ (_No._ 16) _depicts the scenes of the Passion_, _including the popular interpolation of Christ's farewell to his Mother_, _with the Apostles in the background_, _the Resurrection_, _and finally Christ taking his place at the right hand of God while the angels sing hosannas_.

_Below, throughout the series, is the set of the Apostles facing Prophets, symbolic of the parallelism of the Old and New Testaments, each with a scroll bearing his speech in the conventional responses depicted in so many works of art of the period. So Peter (No. 14), says, "I believe in God the Father Omnipotent," and Jeremiah, who faces him, replies, "You invoke the Father who made the earth and builded the heavens."_ _Next_ (_No._ 15) _comes Andrew_, _who originally faced David_, _a figure now missing_. _The next pair, John and Daniel, is also missing._ _There follow_ (_No._ 16) _Thomas_, _who originally faced Hosea_, _and John the Lesser_, _who is opposite Amos_. _Above_, _on either side of the Nativity_ (_No._ 15), _is introduced another pair_, _John the Greater and Isaiah_.

The complete piece, of which number 16 is the right-hand end, was formerly in the Toledo Cathedral, then in the collection of Asher Wertheimer, of London. The present owner is unknown.[9] Another rendition was in the Vatican, but disappeared in the middle of the XIXth century.[10]

Tapestries illustrating the Creed were common throughout the Middle Ages. They appear frequently in XIVth-century inventories, and a number of examples from the XVth and early XVIth century are left to us. The Apostles and Prophets arranged in pairs are a common feature of this type of tapestry.

[Sidenote: Formerly in Evora Palace, Portugal.]

The cartoons are evidently the work of the painter who painted the ceiling of the Church of St. Guy at Naarden, whom Dr. Six tentatively identifies as Albert Claesz.[11] The similarity is too close to be overlooked. The Christ of the Naarden _Resurrection_[12] and this _Resurrection_ are almost identical, the face of God the Father in the _Assumption_ is almost identical with that of an onlooker in the Naarden _Betrayal_,[13] and Adam in the first piece of this series closely resembles the Christ of the Naarden _Flagellation_.[14] But more indicative are the lesser peculiarities common to both series. There are in both the same curiously flattened and slightly distorted skulls with very large ears, the same large eyes with heavy arched lids and eyebrows close above them, oblique and not quite correctly placed in the three-quarter views, and always looking beyond their focus. The mouths, too, in some of the faces are overemphasized in the same way, and the feet have the same quaint distortion, being seen from above, as in the figure of the Prophet John (No. 15). And in very conspicuous minor agreement, the cross has a strongly indicated and rigidly conventionalized graining identical in the two renditions. The attitude of the Christ and the indication of the garment in the Toledo tapestry is very close to that in the Naarden painting.

_The Creation of the World_ No. 14
]

_Four Scenes from the Life of Christ_ No. 17
]

The floreation was probably introduced by the weaver. The delightfully exact scene of the owl scolded by a magpie, while a pigeon sits near by and another bird flutters about (No. 14), is repeated with slight variations in a number of XVIth-century pieces.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Demotte_.]

The drawing in these tapestries is rather unusually primitive for pieces of this period, but the figures have a broad monumental character and a direct sincerity of bearing that make them very convincing.

[Sidenote: 17-19]

FLANDERS, PROBABLY BRUSSELS, BEGINNING XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._

No. 17:
H. 11 _ft._ 10 _in._
W. 17 _ft._ 6 _in._

No. 18:
H. 11 _ft._ 7 _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 5 _in._

No. 19:
H. 12 _ft._
W. 26 _ft._
]

THREE PIECES FROM A SERIES ILLUSTRATING THE CREED: _In the first piece_ (_No._ 17) _four scenes from the Life of Christ are portrayed: the Adoration of the Kings_, _the Presentation at the Temple_, _the meeting of Christ and John_, _and Christ among the Doctors_. _In the corner sits a prophet, probably David. The piece undoubtedly began with the Nativity, at the left, and possibly the Annunciation, with the Apostle Andrew in the other corner. This would indicate that the piece was the second in the series, the first probably having been the Creation of the Earth, with Peter and Jeremiah._

_The second piece_ (_No._ 18) _shows the Circumcision and the Assumption of the Virgin_, _and evidently included at least one more scene at the right_.

[Sidenote: _The Last Judgment_ was formerly in the Evora Palace, Portugal, and is illustrated from the Louvre example in _Migeon, Les Arts de Tissu_, p. 220; in part, in _E. Mâle, L'Art religieux de la fin du Moyen Age en France_, p. 501; _Burlington_, vol. 20, p. 9; _Figaro Illustré_, 1911.]

_The third piece_ (_No._ 19) _shows the full scene of the Last Judgment with a personage who seems to be Philip in one corner and in the other Zephaniah_. _The piece is complete except, possibly, for a border. A tapestry from the same cartoon with a narrow border of flowers is in the Louvre. Christ, enthroned, is surrounded by the Virgin, Saint John, and the eleven Apostles. Angels, bearing instruments of the Passion and sounding trumpets flutter through the sky. At the right of the throne angels come bearing crowns for the elect. Below the dead are rising from the graves. Before the throne of Christ Justice bearing a sword and Pity bearing a lily come to punish the Seven Deadly Sins, Pride, Avarice, Luxury, Greed, Anger, Envy, and Laziness, an episode adopted from the Mystery Plays. On the border of the robe of the Virgin appear the letters WOL and on the border of the robe of the last Apostle at Christ's left the letters RIM DACI BAPTISTA ORADI._

[Sidenote: _The Circumcision and Assumption_ is illustrated in _Demotte, Les Tapisseries gothiques_, Première Série, pl. 39.]

Seven other large tapestries very closely related to these are known. They represent various episodes involving Christ and numerous allegorical figures that have not been identified. Three of these are in the collection of Baron de Zuylen du Nyevelt de Haar, two in the Burgos Cathedral, and two others have passed into private collections and been lost sight of.[15] Another smaller piece, apparently of the same series, was number X in the Morgan Collection. Three duplicates are also in Hampton Court.

The series is closely related also to the _Life of the Virgin_ set in the Royal Collection at Madrid, and also the _Presentation in the Temple_ of the Martin le Roy Collection. The cartoons are clearly the work of Maître Philippe, and the weaving was evidently done in Flanders, probably in Brussels, about 1510. Marquet de Vasselot suggests that the cartoons of the Martin le Roy piece and of the Madrid series were done after a second master under the influence of Gerard David.[16] Destrée, following Wauters, suggests Jean de Bruxelles, known author of the cartoon for the _Communion of Herkenbald_, another Maître Philippe piece, to which he sees a resemblance,[17] and Thièry repeats the claim, but on far-fetched evidence.[18]

Certainly the types are very close to those of Gerard David. Some of the figures on David's _Tree of Mary_ in the Lyons Museum[19] are repeated almost exactly, and some of the female figures are very like the Saint in the _Marriage of Catherine_ in the San Luca Academy at Rome.[20] But other types, such as Zacharias in the meeting of Christ and John, are more reminiscent of Hugo Van der Goes, being, for instance, almost identical with Joseph of Arimathea in the _Descent from the Cross_ in the National Museum, Naples,[21] even to such details as the drawing and placing of the ear. The glimpses of landscapes, too, are clearly derived from Hugo in their composition and details, and even the floreations are close to those in some of Hugo's work, notably the _Original Sin_ in the Imperial Gallery of Vienna,[22] where one finds the same upspringing sheaf of iris. The work would seem to be that of a lesser eclectic, such as the author of the _Life of Mary_ in the Bishops' Palace at Evora.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Demotte_.]

In all the pieces there are intense sincerity and real grandeur of design. The _Last Judgment_, in the musical swinging together of the draperies, the perfect control of the great composition, and in the fine development of the dominance of Christ without sacrifice of the minor episodes, as well as in the power of expression of the thrilling solemnity of the moment, deserves to rank with the greatest interpretations of the subject.

[Sidenote: 20]

BRUSSELS, BEGINNING OF XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 12 _ft._ 3 _in._
W. 13 _ft._ 2 _in._
]

SCENES FROM A ROMANCE: _A queen surrounded by her court awaits the preparation of a document. There is a general interchange of documents among the courtiers at the right. In the background, upper left, a knight indites a letter, and on the opposite side two knights wait on horseback. The scenes illustrate some contemporary_ _romance and are closely related to the Court of Love tapestries that were so often woven at this time._

[Sidenote: Formerly in the Morgan Collection.]

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

The cartoon, like those of the _Court of Love_ scenes, is the work of the studio of Maître Philippe. Jean Van Room probably collaborated, as his signature appears on a very similar tapestry of _David and Bathsheba_ in the Royal Spanish Collection.[23] As in that tapestry, the elegantly dressed persons are quite typical of the prosperous burghers of the time and might well be used as fashion plates. The composition is skillful in the balancing of the groups and the massing of the drapes to form a support for the dominant figure of the queen.

[Sidenote: 21]

BRUSSELS, EARLY XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

H. 13 _ft._ 9 _in._
W. 22 _ft._ 1 _in._
]

[Sidenote: Barberini Collection; Ffoulke Collection. Illustrated: _Ffoulke Collection_, opp. p. 43. Exhibited: _Exposition d'Art ancien bruxellois, Brussels_, 1905, No. XXI. Illustrated: _Destrée, Catalogue of same_, pl. XXIV.]

THE TRIUMPH OF DAVID: _David carrying the head of Goliath on his sword and surrounded by musicians is followed by King Saul and Jonathan on horseback. In the background a hilly landscape with the tents of the Hebrews. A narrow floral border._

The cartoon was painted by Jean Van Room, his signature appearing on another piece[24] of the same series in the Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels. Maître Philippe must have collaborated with him in this work, for a strong Italian influence is evident which appears only in the Van Room tapestries that have had Philippe's assistance.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Mrs. Wm. C. Van Antwerp_.]

Though the drawing and details show the incoming Renaissance influence, the full continuous narrative arrangement of the group, the strong vertical lines of the figures, and the simple modeling show the tarrying Gothic feeling. The groups are beautifully massed and the individual figures show great dignity.

[Sidenote: 22]

SWITZERLAND, EARLY XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool._
H. 4 _ft._ 3½ _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 9½ _in._
]

TWO PAIRS OF LOVERS: _Two pairs of lovers are pictured against a background of vines with blue-green scrolled leaves and large red and yellow blossoms on a dark-blue field. The pair at the right is on either side of a Gothic pedestal on which is a small statue. The ladies are in red robes. One man is in a blue doublet, the other in a two-toned red brocaded cloak. Border of rose-vines and daisies._

[Sidenote: Formerly in the Collection of Comtesse Desautoy.]

The piece was probably woven in Basle, and is undoubtedly adapted from a wood-block illustration in one of Leonhard Ysenmuth's publications. The width and richness of the border indicate that it was done in the early XVIth rather than in the late XVth century.

The subject of pairs of lovers was quite a favorite one with German and Swiss weavers, and a number of them in different styles is left to us. The piece is probably the work of an amateur, a nun, or more probably some lady, who thus filled her long leisure hours. The wood-block print has been closely followed for the figures, even to such minor details as the very simple conventionalization of the hair. The vine background in rather a large scale is common to many Swiss tapestries of the period. The limited range of colors used is especially worthy of note, there being only three shades of blue, three of green-blue, three of tan, and two of red, in addition to the black for the outlines.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Wildenstein & Co._]

The work is thoroughly naïve, but it has the strong appeal of genuineness and directness common to naïve designs and shows a strong feeling for decorative quality.

[Sidenote: 23-25]

BRUSSELS, SECOND QUARTER XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool, Silk, Gold._

No. 23:
H. 13 _ft._ 5 _in._
W. 15 _ft._ 4 _in._

No. 24:
H. 13 _ft._ 5 _in._
W. 20 _ft._

No. 25:
H. 13 _ft._ 5 _in._
W. 20 _ft._
]

THREE SCENES FROM THE DEEDS OF SCIPIO: _In the first piece_ (_No._ 23) _Scipio enthroned offers the mural crown to Caius Laelius_. _Roman army officers stand about. In the background the army is assembled._

_In the second piece_ (_No._ 24) _Scipio is about to land in Africa_. _In the foreground two vessels filled with soldiers. In the background the city of Utica._

_In the third piece_ (_No._ 25) _Hannibal approaches Scipio to sue for peace_. _In the background the opposing armies face each other on either side of a river._

The pieces bear the Brussels city mark and the monogram H.M. (Hubert de Mecht). The cartoons are attributed to Giulio Romano, fifteen of the original small drawings being in the Louvre. There are in all eighteen pieces in this set, and two subsequent sets, the _Triumphs of Scipio_ and the _Fruits of War_, make a total of thirty-five pieces in the complete history, one of the largest sequences ever attempted in tapestry.

[Sidenote: Illustrated: _Hauser y Menet, Los Tapices de la Corona de España_, vol. 2, pl. 93; _Burlington_, 1916, pp. 58-66, in connection with article by George Leland Hunter, _Scipio Tapestries Now in America_.]

The cartoons have been woven a number of times and examples have been included in many famous collections, including that of Francis I. These pieces were so rich in gold that they were burned to obtain the metal during the Revolution.

These three pieces are from one of the earliest weavings, and in perfection of execution and sumptuousness of material far surpass most of the renderings, ranking with the greatest productions of the early Renaissance. The use of the metal is particularly effective, occurring as it does in three techniques, plain weaving, basket weaving, which always gives a heavy richness, and couching.

The borders with the classical allegorical figures under porticos are of a very fine type, following the example set by Raphael in his panels for the _Acts of the Apostles_.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Duveen Brothers_.]

For vividness of illustration, strength and clarity of silhouette, and delicacy and freshness of color this set is nowhere surpassed.

_The Triumph of David_ No. 21
]

_Two Pairs of Lovers_ No. 22
]

[Sidenote: 26, 27]

BRUSSELS, XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._

No. 26:
H. 12 _ft._
W. 15 _ft._

No. 27:
H. 12 _ft._
W. 16 _ft._
]

TWO SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF CYRUS: _In the first_ (_No._ 26) _Cyrus captures Astyages_, _his grandfather_. _Soldiers stand about, and in the background the army is assembled._

_In the second_ (_No._ 27) _Thomyris has the head of Cyrus offered as a human sacrifice_. _An attendant is placing the head in a gold basin and soldiers standing about draw back in horror. In the background a battle wages._

[Sidenote: Illustrated:

_Hauser y Menet, Los Tapices de la Corona de España_, vol. 2, pls. 119, 121.]

These two pieces, showing the moment of greatest triumph and the ultimate defeat of Cyrus, the great world conqueror, are from a famous set that has been woven several times. One of these sets, belonging to the royal family of France, was used in the funeral service of Francis II. Another group from the series is in the Royal Spanish Collection. The only set known with a weaver's signature bears the mark of Nicolas Leyniers, and it is entirely probable that all of the examples, including these two, are from those looms.

[Sidenote: Lent by _Mr. & Mrs. Daniel C. Jackling_.]

They are very fine examples of a type of design perfected in the first half of the XVIth century in Brussels. The fullness of details in the background serves to keep the textile rich and interesting and to throw into sharp silhouette the dominant figures. The intricate and decorative borders that are used on these pieces well illustrate one of the most important contributions of the Renaissance to tapestry design.

[Sidenote: 28]

BRUSSELS, XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 8 _ft._ 10 _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 2 _in._
]

THE PENTECOST: _The Apostles and the members of the Early Church are gathered together. The tongues of fire descend upon them, and the Holy Ghost appears like a dove between the figures of God and Jesus revealed above. A wide border of scroll with inset medallions of biblical scenes. In the upper border a papal coat of arms._

[Sidenote: Lent by _William Baumgarten & Company_.]

Renaissance tapestries in so intimate a scale that yet are not miniature occur rather seldom. The piece has great clarity and brilliance and carries forcefully the religious feeling of the episode.

In the selvage the Brussels city mark and the weaver's initials, C. S. The mark is unidentified.

[Sidenote: 29]

BRUSSELS, XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 6 _ft._ 9 _in._
W. 13 _ft._ 8 _in._
]

JUDITH DEPARTS FOR THE ENEMY'S CAMP: _Judith accompanied by her maid takes leave of her mother. Attendants await to lead her away and a slave awaits in the background holding two camels. Wide border of fruits and flowers._

[Sidenote: Lent by _William Baumgarten & Company_.]

This is one of a very famous set of the _Story of Judith and Holofernes_, examples of which are in a number of famous collections. The tapestry bears on the selvage the Brussels city mark and the weaver's monogram, N. X. The mark is unidentified.

This piece is a strong example of a set that combines characteristic Renaissance stateliness with a less customary direct charm.

[Sidenote: 30]

BRUSSELS, MIDDLE XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 11 _ft._ 3 _in._
W. 12 _ft._ 9 _in._
]

GARDEN SCENE: _Through a trellis upheld by caryatides a formal garden with fountains and pavilions is seen. In the foreground, deer. In the garden, various animals. Border of scrolls and flowers with inset cartouches showing animals._

Such trellis designs as this were quite often used in the middle of the XVIth century. A famous example very similar to this is the _Vertumnus and Pomona_ set, one of which was in the Palace of the Escurial and two in the Barberini Collection.[25] Another piece so like this that it must be the work of the same designer is in the Vienna Collection, number 142.

[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]

It is a rich and resourceful kind of decoration well fitted to the requirements of tapestry. The drawing of the deer is unusually graceful and vivacious.

[Sidenote: 31]

FLANDERS, XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote:

_Wool and Silk._
H. 5 _ft._ 9 _in._
W. 12 _ft._ 9 _in._
]

VERDURE: _In the center a château surrounded by a moat on which swans and ducks swim about. At the left fishermen on the bank and a hunter with his dogs. On the right mounted hunters chasing rabbits through a wood._

[Sidenote: Lent by _Mrs. William H. Crocker_.]

The high-keyed landscape on a small scale was the Renaissance successor to the Gothic millefleurs. The drawing in this piece is beautifully clean and exact, and the color delightfully and uncommonly varied and vibrant. The château is so carefully rendered that it is valuable as an architectural record. The piece may have been made by Flemish weavers working in England.

[Sidenote: 32]

FLANDERS, LATE XVI CENTURY

[Sidenote: