7b 
 
 85-B 
 
 26913 
 
 LOAN EXHIBITION OF 
 
 TAPESTRIES 
 
 ASSEMBLED, ARRANGED AND CATALOGUED 
 BY GEORGE LELAND HUNTER 
 
 During the first two weeks and the 
 last two weeks of the Exhibition, 
 free lecture-promenades by special 
 appointment, when Mr. Hunter will 
 personally conduct visitors through 
 the galleries, explaining the history 
 and artistic significance of the dif- 
 ferent tapestries. 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 OCTOBER 5th TO DECEMBER 1st INCLUSIVE 
 1918 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/loanexhibitionofOOhunt 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ESPECIALLY great at the present time is the prac- 
 tical and patriotic value of an exhibition of 
 tapestries. Under war conditions the art side of 
 American industries has begun to flourish as never before. 
 Damasks, brocades and velvets, chintzes and cretonnes 
 and wall papers that we used to import we now produce 
 for ourselves, and even export. 
 
 But if we are to continue to hold our American mar- 
 kets after the war, and gain others in the face of renewed 
 European competition, we must continue to elevate the 
 standards of our art industries and learn to rival even the 
 French in matters of style and taste. The consecration 
 to military service of men of military age renders all the 
 more difficult, but also all the more vital, the task imposed 
 upon the rest of us. 
 
 To those who by their generosity have made possible 
 this extraordinary exhibition of tapestries at The Cleve- 
 land Museum of Art, the city, the state and the country 
 are deeply indebted. For tapestries more than any other 
 form of decorative art have the power to inspire archi- 
 tects, decorators, designers, students, teachers, manu- 
 facturers, and the public to appreciation of what good 
 taste really is, and to the creation and acquisition of 
 better things. 
 
 Tapestries have a triple excellence. They possess not 
 only the picture interest of photographs and paintings, but 
 also the story interest of novels and romances, and the 
 texture interest of damasks, velvets and brocades, em- 
 broideries and Oriental rugs. 
 
 Tapestries need only to be seen to be appreciated. 
 They are a form of art easy to understand. They do not 
 require the development of an esoteric sense to be thrilled 
 by their wonderful qualities. 
 
 But it is necessary to regard them from the tapestry 
 point of view. For the tapestry point of view and the 
 paint point of view are diametrically opposed. The quali- 
 ties that distinguish most great tapestries are not those 
 that they share with paintings, but those that differentiate 
 
4 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 them from paintings. In other words, of tapestries the 
 most characteristic part is the texture. 
 
 Texture is what makes tapestries the fundamental wall 
 decoration. Their surface consists of horizontal ribs cov- 
 ered with fine vertical weft threads that combine into 
 strong spires of color called hatchings. So that their fun- 
 damental lines, Hke those of architecture, are horizontal 
 and vertical, and not approximately so, but exactly so, 
 true to the plumb line. This is why tapestries cling to 
 the walls of a room decoratively and architecturally, while 
 paintings have to be fenced in to keep them from falling off. 
 
 Tapestry is a broad word. In its broadest sense it 
 includes all the fabrics used to cover the walls and floors 
 of houses. In its broadest sense it includes not only the 
 upholstery and drapery products of the hand loom and 
 the power loom, but also carpets and rugs, embroideries 
 and leathers, cloths painted and printed and stenciled. 
 In the narrowest sense it is restricted exclusively to the 
 pictured webs of *'high warp" and *'low warp'' looms, 
 looms that are vastly simpler than the ordinary hand 
 loom, still using the bobbin instead of the shuttle to con- 
 vey the weft in its passage back and forth between the 
 warps. 
 
 Primitive tapestries have been woven by many primi- 
 tive peoples. Material evidence we have of this in the 
 European and American museum collections of ancient 
 Coptic and Peruvian textiles, and also in the Oriental 
 kelims, Tunisian blankets, Mexican scrapes and Navajo 
 rugs so familiar to most of us. Even the very beautiful 
 Chinese silk tapestries must be classed among the primi- 
 tives. 
 
 Practically all the world's great tapestries that sur- 
 vive — tapestries of the type made famous by Arras in 
 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; by Brussels in the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth; by the Gobelins in the seven- 
 teenth and since — are French or Flemish, or French and 
 Flemish, and were woven in Flanders or northern France. 
 Those made in Italy and Germany and England were for 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 5 
 
 the most part the work of errant Flemish weavers, and 
 apt to be inferior in weave and dye. 
 
 Of the great tapestries of antiquity, of ancient Greece 
 and Rome, we have only literary evidence, principally 
 Homer and Ovid. From the former we learn that both 
 Helen and Penelope were weavers of tapestry. Of Helen, 
 Homer says: 
 
 Here in the palace at her loom she found, 
 The golden web her own sad story crowned. 
 The Trojan wars she weaved, herself the prize, 
 And the dire triumphs of her fatal eyes; 
 
 and Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, describes thrillingly 
 and also with great technical detail the tapestry-weaving 
 contest between the mortal Arachne and the goddess Pal- 
 las, the latter picturing vividly and wonderfully the Gods 
 in Council, the former the loves of the Gods. But of 
 French-Flemish tapestries, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque 
 and Eighteenth Century, hundreds of the most splendid 
 examples have been preserved not only in European public 
 and private collections, especially in the French National 
 Collection, the Royal Spanish Collection, the Imperial 
 Austrian Collection, but also in America, in the Blumen- 
 thal, Widener, Bradley, Harriman, and other famous 
 private collections, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
 and in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 
 
 All of the world's great tapestries that survive were 
 woven in the space of five centuries — fourteenth, fif- 
 teenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth — Gothic of the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Renaissance of the six- 
 teenth. Baroque of the seventeenth. Rococo and Classic of 
 the eighteenth — the Gothic tapestries lapping over the 
 first quarter of the sixteenth century, the Renaissance into 
 the seventeenth, the Baroque into the eighteenth. 
 
 Of tapestries made in the fourteenth century almost 
 none remain. The only important exceptions are the 
 small Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, in the Brus- 
 sels Museum; the large King Arthur now on exhibition 
 
6 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 here; the famous set of the Apocalypse, at the Cathedral 
 of Angers, in France. 
 
 Originally the Apocalypse set consisted of seven tapes- 
 tries 1 8 feet high with combined length of 472 feet. To- 
 day, through wearing away at the top and bottom, this 
 height is only 14 feet, and of the original 90 scenes there 
 are 70 left. 
 
 About the provenance of these wonderful Apocalypse 
 tapestries we have the most complete information. (See 
 page 38 of my book on ''Tapestries"). They were woven in 
 Paris in the last half of the fourteenth century in the shop 
 of Nicolas Bataille, after cartoons by Hennequin de 
 Bruges, Charles V's court painter, for the king's brother, 
 the Duke of Anjou. A century later they became the 
 property of the cathedral. 
 
 For hundreds of years they were proudly displayed on 
 feast days and admired by visiting thousands. But when 
 tapestries went out of fashion at the end of the eighteenth 
 century, the canons of the cathedral decided to sell the 
 Apocalypse set. Only the fact that no one would buy 
 prevented the sale. Finally, in 1843, a sale was effected. 
 These priceless examples of the art of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury were disposed of for sixty dollars. 
 
 Meanwhile, not believing that anything Gothic could 
 be beautiful, the canons had succeeded in making the 
 tapestries of the Apocalypse useful. Some they divided 
 into rugs for the chambers of the Bishop's palace. Others 
 they took out into the green houses on cold nights to 
 spread over the orange trees and keep the frost away. 
 One they cut up into strips and nailed on the stalls of 
 the Bishop's stables, to keep his horses from bruising them- 
 selves. 
 
 Fortunately, the man who purchased the set for sixty 
 dollars was wiser than the canons, and restored it to the 
 cathedral, of which it is once again the chief treasure, and 
 an object of pilgrimage from all over the world. 
 
 The King Arthur tapestry shown in this exhibition is 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 7 
 
 the only large fourteenth century tapestry I know, except 
 the Apocalypse ones at Angers. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixteenth century came a revo- 
 lution in the design of tapestries. Gothic was replaced by 
 Renaissance, Flemish by Italian. To Raphael and his 
 famous pupil, Giulio Romano, the transformation was 
 largely due. The former with his Acts of the Apostles, 
 the latter with his Scipio, Romulus and Remus, Fruits of 
 War, Grotesque Months and other series, completely 
 changed the prevailing style from Mediaeval to Renais- 
 sance. Flemish designers like Bernard Van Orley and 
 Lucas van Leyden also excelled in the new style. 
 
 In the seventeenth century the tapestry leadership 
 passed from Flanders to France. The Gobelins and 
 Beauvais became the great centers of tapestry production. 
 
 In the eighteenth century were created the tapestries 
 best suited for most modern residences, after the designs 
 of Boucher, Coypel, Casanova, and Leprince at Beau- 
 vais; after the design of Coypel, Boucher, Jeaurat, and 
 others at the Gobelins. The most exquisite of these are 
 the Beauvais-Bouchers, so called because designed by 
 Francois Boucher and woven at Beauvais. Aubusson, 
 with improved designs and dyes, also produced charming 
 small panels in the third quarter of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Never before in America have so many Gobelin and 
 Beauvais tapestries of first excellence been assembled. 
 The five Beauvais-Bouchers are a revelation. The six 
 Gobelin Months of Lucas are worth crossing the continent 
 to see. The Chinese Boucher is a brilliant illustration of 
 the land of the pigtail as seen through eighteenth century 
 European eyes. 
 
 Of course, the religious center of the exhibition is the 
 Gothic room. In the Middle Ages religion, which is now 
 too often of man's life a thing apart, permeated his whole 
 existence. In tapestries were pictured before him the 
 sacred stories of the Old Testament and of the New, the 
 Lives of Christ and the Virgin, and of the Saints. At the 
 
8 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 head of all stands Christ and the Woman, the finest tapes- 
 try in America. Also of great value to the Bible teacher 
 is the Marriage of David, larger and earlier in style, and 
 even more splendid in composition and execution than 
 the famous Story of David set at the Cluny Museum in 
 Paris. 
 
 LECTURE PROMENADES 
 
 During the first two weeks of the exhibition, begin- 
 ning Monday, October 6, and from November i6 to 
 December i, Mr. Hunter will give free daily lecture prom- 
 enades before the tapestries to selected groups from the 
 schools, and churches, and clubs, and decorative shops and 
 departments, of Cleveland. Appointments may be made 
 by letter or telephone to Miss Underhill, Garfield 4015. 
 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST 
 OF 
 
 THE TAPESTRIES EXHIBITED 
 
 1. CHRIST AND THE WOMAN, a late Gothic tapestry, rich 
 with gold and silver, designed by Gerard David, and woven in Brus- 
 sels at the beginning of the sixteenth century. This is the finest 
 tapestry in America. It excels not only in the qualities that make 
 a great tapestry but also in the qualities that make a great picture. 
 It excels not only in story interest and texture interest but also in 
 composition and drawing. It even excels the two Story of the 
 Virgin tapestries in the Royal Spanish Collection, also after the de- 
 sign of Gerard David, of which Count Valencia wrote: "They are 
 the most sumptuous and the most beautiful that ever left the 
 shops of Brussels." 
 
 The scene is the Temple at Jerusalem pictured as a French- 
 Flemish Gothic cathedral, with floor of alternately figured marble 
 tiles. In the foreground kneels the Woman with the Latin inscrip- 
 tion just below her on the inside edge of the woven frame. Facing 
 her. on the right, under a noble canopy, stands Jesus, in the act of 
 uttering the phrase that dumfounded her accusers. Behind the 
 Woman, on the left, two of the accusers holding in their hands 
 stones which they have lost the desire to cast at her. In the 
 middle ground other accusers and spectators. In the background 
 leaded glass windows, a hanger carrying the Order of Services, and 
 a large iron sconce with half-burned candle. Through the door on 
 the left, a narrow vista of landscape above and brick wall and 
 ferns below. 
 
 The subject of the scene is found in the Latin inscription: 
 
 Mittat labe carens in earn primitus saxa. 
 "He that is without sin among you, let 
 him first cast a stone at her." 
 
 taken from the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Saint John: 
 
 "Jesus went into the Mount of Olives, and early in the morn- 
 ing he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto 
 him; and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and 
 Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when 
 they had set her in the midst, they said unto him. Master, this 
 woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the 
 law commanded us that such should be stoned: but what sayest 
 thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to 
 accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote 
 on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they con- 
 
lo THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 tinued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, "He 
 that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." 
 
 With genius did Gerard David of Bruges, who designed the 
 tapestry during the reign in the Netherlands of Philip and Joanna 
 (1496-1506), present the critical moment of the story. Astonish- 
 ment and dismay reveal themselves equally in the faces of the 
 accusers. Evidently they have themselves been caught in the trap 
 set for another. By the word of Jesus the accusers have become 
 the accused. 
 
 Their faces and eyes are masterpieces of artistic accomplishment. 
 As a rule, one is obliged to admit that portraiture is the province 
 of the brush rather than of the bobbin. But here woven cloth has 
 surpassed painted canvas on its own ground, while at the same time 
 retaining its preeminence elsewhere. The weaver has understood 
 with his wool and silk how to get paint effects, and also to employ 
 gold and silver more lavishly, more skillfully, and more wisely than 
 in any other tapestry with which I am acquainted. 
 
 Occupying the narrower panels of the tapestry, on each side of 
 the main scene, sit the Four Apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke and 
 John, with their symbohc attributes; on the right. Saint Matthew 
 with his cherub, and Saint Luke with his ox; on the left Saint Mark, 
 with his lion, and Saint John with his eagle. The ox and the lion 
 are archaic in drawing, as if based on ancient and primitive proto- 
 types. The right wing is backgrounded by a landscape window 
 with slender Gothic column in the middle; the left wing by a draped 
 closet of shelves, on which are books in disorder, as if in active use. 
 Saint Matthew and Saint Mark are reading from large and ele- 
 gantly bound Bibles, while Saint Luke and Saint John are writing 
 with quills. Saint Luke's manuscript lies upon a closed book that 
 rests on his knee, but Saint John's book is supported by a triangular 
 reading shelf that holds it and another book at right angles to each 
 other. The second book is open towards the front. Saint John's 
 eagle holds in his beak cords from which are suspended an ink bot- 
 tle and a cylindrical manuscript case. 
 
 In arrangement the tapestry is a triptych divided and bounded 
 by four slender round Gothic columns, the outer two with spiral 
 fluting and square base and capital, the inner two with pentagonal 
 base and capital, and with wedge-shaped flutings which enhance the 
 apparent height, and by line contrast force the scenes of the tapestry 
 back. The personages in the background rising above those in 
 the foreground also emphasize vertically in the Gothic fashion, as 
 do the columns and upright mouldings of the architecture in the 
 background. 
 
 The flat, jeweled arches that crown the side panels, and the 
 broad shoes of the youth who wears the embroidered sash around his 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 II 
 
 waist are positive evidence of the approach of the Renaissance, and 
 of the tendency to balance Gothic verticals by Classical horizontals. 
 
 The symmetry of the composition is extreme. In the left wing 
 two personages and an eagle balancing two personages and a cherub 
 in the right wing, and in the middle panel personages symmetrically 
 grouped on each side of the Woman. 
 
 Yet classic simplicity and symmetry have been achieved with- 
 out sacrifice of the enthusiastic and expressive vigor of Gothic. In 
 true Gothic fashion every inch of the surface has been made aUve 
 with line and color, but the ornament has been so completely sub- 
 ordinated as nowhere to seem too much. 
 
 Especially prominent is the pomegranate pattern that in fif- 
 teenth century Gothic art took the place of the lotus of ancient 
 Egypt, and of the acanthus of ancient Rome. The border consists 
 of clusters of pomegranate leaves and fruit arranged in groups that 
 alternate in direction, and contrast gently in color. The garments of 
 most of the figures in the foreground, as well as the squares of the 
 back of the canopy, are patterned in large and intricately elaborate 
 pomegranate motifs, which differ for the diflferent personages. 
 
 Pomegranate motifs in line on blue ground also drive forward by 
 contrast the figures in the upper part of the two side panels. 
 
 Height, 8 feetj inches;length, 1 1 feet i inch. Lent by Duveen Bros. 
 
 2. KING ARTHUR, an early Gothic tapestry woven in Paris in 
 the last quarter of the fourteenth century. A favorite theme of 
 tapestry makers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was the 
 Nine Heroes (Preux): three pagan. Hector, Alexander, Caesar; 
 three Hebrew, David, Joshua, Judas Maccabaeus; three Christian, 
 Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey de Bouillon. Charles V, King of 
 France from 1364 to 1380, had two tapestries picturing the Nine 
 Heroes, and his brother Louis, Duke of Anjou, had one. Similar 
 tapestries were also owned by the king's other brothers, the Dukes 
 of Burgundy and Berri, but with a tenth Preux added, the contem- 
 porary Hero of the war against England, Bertrand du Guesclin. 
 A contemporary French poem preserved in a manuscript in the 
 BibHotheque Nationale, reads translated: 
 
 Since he is dead, let him be put in the table 
 Of Maccabaeus, first Hero in renown, 
 Of Joshua, David the wise, 
 Alexander, Hector, and Absalom, 
 Arthur, Charles, Godfrey de Bouillon. 
 Now let be named the tenth of them, 
 Bertrand, the Preux who like a hero served 
 The azure shield with three golden fleurs-de-lis. 
 
 Of all the Gothic Hero tapestries, however, only a few large 
 fragments have survived. The most important are the one shown 
 
12 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 in this exhibition, from the fourteenth century, and the Bale, Saint 
 Maxent and Fraisse fragments from the fifteenth century. In all 
 King Arthur appears with his traditional coat of arms, "three crowns 
 of gold on azure." He also appears with the same coat of arms in 
 the Triumph of Christ tapestry at the Brussels Museum, and in the 
 Charlemagne tapestry belonging to Mr. George Blumenthal. (See 
 plates 370, 371 of Hunter's "Tapestries, Their Origin, History and 
 Renaissance.") 
 
 In the tapestry before us King Arthur wears his coat of arms 
 not only on the pennant that floats from his lance but also upon 
 his breast. He is fully armored and his left hand draws a sword 
 from its sheath. He is seated in a throne chair and framed in 
 Gothic architecture of the same type as appears in the famous four- 
 teenth century set of Apocalypse tapestries at the Cathedral of 
 Angers. Indeed, the resemblance between this tapestry and the 
 Apocalypse set is in every way striking. Just as the main person- 
 age in each of the Apocalypse sets occupies the full height of the 
 tapestry, while the other scenes are in two rows, one above the 
 other, so here Arthur occupies the full height of the tapestry, and 
 on each side of him are lesser personages arranged in a double tier: 
 above, two archbishops standing in the balconies with archepiscopal 
 cross on staff; below, two bishops with episcopal crozier (derived 
 not from the cross but from the shepherd's staff). Noteworthy are 
 the jewels displayed by the bishops and archbishops, on their mitres, 
 fastening their cloaks, and on the backs of their hands. Arthur, hke 
 the two lesser warriors in the extreme left, has a long flowing beard 
 and long flowing hair of the same type as seen in the Apocalypse. 
 Size, 8 feet by 10 feet 11. Lent by Duveen Brothers. 
 
 3. VINTAGE, the most splendid tapestry of the kind anywhere, 
 woven in Flanders in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, 
 contemporaneously with the Duke of Devonshire's four Hartwick 
 Hall Hunting tapestries that now hang on loan in the Victoria and 
 Albert Museum. It formerly belonged to the famous collection of 
 M. Edouard Ainard of Lyons, and was illustrated and described in 
 1913 by M. Seymour de Ricci, in thcGazeUe des Beaux-Arts\ by M. 
 Paul Vitry in Les Arts; and by M. E. Bertaux in the Revue de V Art 
 Ancien et Moderne. It is vivid with Hfe and color, and to a surpass- 
 ing degree displays the same super-excellencies of tapestry texture 
 as the famous fifteenth century Trojan War Series, one of which now 
 hangs in the Metropohtan Museum of Art, lent by Mr. Edson 
 Bradley. The clarity of composition and detail in the tapestry 
 before us are extraordinary. On the right, lords and ladies, the 
 latter wearing the altitudinous steeple hats then in style, that rhyme 
 with the pointed shoes displayed in the middle foreground. On the 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 13 
 
 left, the peasants buying the grapes, pouring the wine into barrels, 
 and selling it for precious coins that the buyer counts out grudgingly. 
 In the very center, a driver with whip urging forward the sturdy 
 horse that hauls a barrel-laden cart. On the middle left, a patient 
 bold-eyed donkey, struggling under two panniers full of grapes. In 
 the background, a landscape with castles and birds and church. 
 In the moat on the right, a long-necked swan sedately watching. 
 Note especially the three dogs, all different and all interesting, and 
 all better drawn than most tapestry dogs. Note also the excellence 
 of the details of the barrel and the wheeled cart on the right, and 
 the character and the animation in the forms and faces of all the per- 
 sonages. Size II feet by 17 feet 6. Lent by Jacques Seligmann, of 
 Paris. 
 
 4. MARRIAGE OF KING DAVID, the largest tapestry I have 
 ever seen. It is not only larger than any of the famous "Story of 
 David" set of ten, in the Cluny Museum, but it is also more beauti- 
 ful in composition, more briUiant in coloring and more exquisite in 
 texture. It is also about fifteen years earlier in date, having been on 
 the looms at the time Columbus discovered America, and conse- 
 quently is much more Gothic in architecture and in spirit, and shows 
 much less evidence of the approach of the Renaissance. The central 
 scene, from which the tapestry takes its name, illustrates the Mar- 
 riage of King David, after Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, the Hit- 
 tite, had been betrayed to death by David. Only then could David 
 receive Bathsheba at his court as his lawful wife. The chamberlain, 
 who had been sent to fetch Bathsheba, kneels on the left, while 
 Bathsheba kneels on the right; King David sits in majesty upon his 
 throne surrounded by the lords and ladies of his court in brilliant 
 fifteenth century costume. 
 
 The upper scene on the left is the first, chronologically. Here 
 David sees Bathsheba for the first time. This is the scene com- 
 monly called "Bathsheba at the Bath," a picture much more modest 
 in Gothic art than as portrayed by Rubens in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, or Boucher in the eighteenth century. The lower scene on the 
 left pictures the first meeting of David and Bathsheba. He had no 
 sooner seen her than he was impatient to know her better. He sent 
 for her immediately and received her affectionately, as the tapestry 
 shows, to the great scandal of his Court. 
 
 Next comes the marriage scene in the middle, already described, 
 followed by the lower scene on the right, "The Reproach of Nathan," 
 where the prophet bitterly blames David and Bathsheba, seated 
 together on the throne, for the sin that they have committed. The 
 upper scene on the right pictures the grief of David and of Bath- 
 sheba at the mortal illness of their passionately adored child that 
 
14 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 lies on the bed of which only a corner is visible. Size, 1 5 feet by 
 29 feet 5. Lent by Duveen Brothers. 
 
 5. TWO SIBYLS, a late Gothic tapestry, woven in Flanders at the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century. The Sibyls were the oracles of 
 God in the ancient pagan world. The Sibylline books were the Bible 
 and the ultimate authority of the Roman Kingdom that later grew 
 into the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. When the 
 Roman Empire became Christian the Sibyls became Christian also. 
 One of the Sibyls is pictured in the left wing of the Mazarin tapestry, 
 as kneeHng before the Emperor Augustus in one scene, and in 
 another scene as pointing out to him a vision in the sky of the Infant 
 Christ in his Mother's arms. The other Sibyls also did their part 
 in announcing the Coming of Christ. 
 
 The two pictures on the tapestry before us, with inscriptions in 
 Latin, are the Erythraean and Cumaean Sibyls. The inscription of 
 the Erythraean Sibyl reads translated: *'In the last age God shall 
 humble himself, the divine offspring shall become human, divinity 
 and humanity shall be united, he shall lie on hay, etc." The in- 
 scription of the Cumaean Sibyl reads: **The Cumaean Sibyl foretold 
 the sign of judgment, the earth shall be moist with sweat, the king 
 shall come from Heaven to reign throughout the centuries actually 
 present in the flesh, etc." Size, 11 feet 2 by 10 feet 6. Lent by 
 Duveen Bros. 
 
 6. SHEPHERD AND HUNTING tapestry, one of a unique and 
 splendid set of six. Woven at Tournai, then in France, near the end 
 of the fifteenth century. The scene pictures the arrival on the left 
 of a lord and his lady mounted on a powerful white charger, who are 
 welcomed by the youthful lord and lady in the middle of the tapes- 
 try. On the right, a huntsman somewhat impertinently chucks 
 under the chin a damsel holding a rabbit. In the foreground, two 
 dogs, two children and a page carrying the huntsman's spear. In 
 the background, shepherds and shepherdesses with their houletteSy 
 mingled with sheep of the nursery type. In the background, with 
 high Gothic sky-line, a landscape with castles. Size, 11 feet 5 by 
 13 feet 9. Lent by Duveen Brothers. 
 
 7. MARRIAGE OF PEACE AND LOVE. A Gothic tapestry 
 woven in Flanders at the beginning of the sixteenth century. This 
 is one of the most delightful products of the Gothic Renaissance 
 transition period, when the inspiration of Renaissance design began 
 to illuminate a texture that was still completely Gothic. Already 
 the personages are arranged horizontally, forming a broad horizon- 
 tal band between the horizontal band of mille fleur foreground with 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 15 
 
 animals and birds and the horizontal background of landscape with 
 sky and air and water, castles and mountains. Already horizontal 
 lines and bands begin to break up and shorten robes and gowns that 
 a few years before were entirely Gothic and entirely vertical. Already 
 Renaissance architecture and ornament appear on the chariot with 
 its Renaissance horn of plenty, and Renaissance tassels on the rich 
 robes; while the massive trumpets of dilleccion and doulceur are em- 
 phatically Renaissance. 
 
 Yet the milk fieur foreground in arrangement and execution is 
 entirely Gothic, with animals and birds pasted flat against the foli- 
 age; and the architecture of the background shows not a suggestion 
 of return to Classic. One is immediately reminded of the famous 
 "Lady with the Unicorn" series in the Cluny Museum, and espe- 
 cially of the fascinating late Gothic series of "Triumphs" in the 
 Imperial Austrian Collection, which are illustrated on pages 49 and 
 375 of Hunter's "Tapestries." 
 
 The latter series also resembles the "Marriage of Peace and 
 Love" in having a landscape background; and in having the story 
 told in an old French quatrain above; and in having the identity 
 of the different personages made clear by woven inscriptions, all in 
 Gothic letters. 
 
 The old French quatrain descriptive of the tapestry before us 
 reads: 
 
 Paix et amour en loyal mariage 
 
 Font triumpher par immortelle fame 
 
 Les soeurs huit dechassant blasine tnjame 
 
 De chaste te et pudique courage 
 
 and translated: 
 
 Peace and love in loyal marriage 
 
 Make triumph through immortal fame 
 
 The eight sisters, driving away infamous slander 
 
 With chastity and modest courage 
 
 The two principal characters are Peace {paix) and Love {amour)y 
 seated triumphant side by side upon the chariot of Marriage {mar- 
 iage), the former with a small picture of Christ Crucified in her left 
 hand, the latter carrying in her left hand a large V that encloses 
 two hearts. Both ladies wear beautiful necklaces, and from the 
 necklace of Love hangs a pendant cross. The hair of Love, like that 
 of Esther in the Mazarin tapestry, hangs over her neck and breast 
 down to her waist in two long horns, that contrast strangely with 
 the single horns of the eight sisters. The names of the eight sisters, 
 that through immortal fame (fame immortelle^ who is winged and 
 carries a large square banner figured with a large tree) make triumph 
 Peace and Love, are AflFection {dillection)^ Agreeableness {amenite). 
 Sweetness {doulceur)^ Harmony {concorde)^ Fidelity {fedellite), Loy- 
 
i6 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 alty {Joy ante) ^ Joy {Hesse) ^ Felicity {fellicite)^ the first four with 
 exquisite milHnery of the period and engaged in making sweet 
 music, the last four with crowns of olive. Loyalty holds up a knot 
 in her right hand to indicate her steadfastness, while Fidelity adver- 
 tises her character by having her robe bordered with a series of 
 knots, and her right hand grasps the symbolic hand. An upraised 
 apple testifies to the delightful quahties of Felicity. The wedding 
 chariot, though noisy with bells that hang from the body, is very 
 appropriately drawn by two small sheep, while the wedding ring is 
 displayed to view by the god of marriage {hymeneus) who walks at 
 the left of the peaceful steeds, followed by King Oeneus who carries 
 a partially unrolled manuscript. Size, lo feet by 14 feet 2. Lent by 
 W. G. Mather. 
 
 8. SHEPHERD LOVER, a Gothic tapestry woven in Flanders in 
 the last quarter of the fifteenth century. The scene represented is 
 a Garden of Pleasure which the youthful shepherd on the left 
 regards with desire, but which the aged shepherd on the right 
 regards with aversion. Before the court-yard, children are merrily 
 and shamelessly splashing in the water without apparent fear of the 
 lion. Inside the court-yard, animals real and imaginary are por- 
 trayed with great force. In the upper left corner is a wild fox. In 
 the lower left corner, a youth with falcon, and in the lower right 
 corner, a shepherd carrying a sheep around his neck. The inscrip- 
 tion on the left reads, translated: **The shepherd lover gay and 
 joyful at the court of pleasure." The inscription on the right reads, 
 translated, giving the words of the aged shepherd; *T leave such 
 games, wish to play no more, am getting old." Size, 9 feet 8 by 
 13 feet. Lent by L. Alavoine & Company. 
 
 9, 10. MILLE FLEUR tapestries of unusual interest. Of course, 
 no tapestry exhibition is complete without a mille fleur tapestry. 
 Mille Fleur tapestries are more generally popular than any others 
 and with much reason. Seldom, however, are they equal in quality 
 and condition to the two here exhibited. Delightfully quaint and 
 fascinating are the animals silhouetted on the floriated background, 
 and the coat of arms in the second of the two tapestries is an im- 
 portant feature. Size of the first, 9 feet 5 by 8 feet i; of the second, 
 9 feet I by 9 feet. Lent by Duveen Brothers. 
 
 11. HOSPITALITY, a Flemish Gothic tapestry that pictures in 
 great detail a French-Flemish dinner of the last quarter of the 
 fifteenth century. The aged host with grey hair and beard, plumed 
 hat of fur, and robe figured with pomegranate motifs — which are as 
 typical of the period as was the lotus of ancient Egypt and the 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 17 
 
 acanthus of ancient Rome — turns away from his cover laid at the 
 head of the table, to warm his hands before the open fire, and also 
 to make a grouping easier for the artist and the weaver to reproduce; 
 but looks toward his guests as if to say the words of the old French 
 inscription that holds the top of the tapestry: 
 
 The man wise at pleasing the ladies 
 First has preparations made for eating; 
 And cooking worthy of his friends has done. 
 And of all good things there are to wish for. 
 
 Already four of the guests are seated at the table, the pair in 
 the background on a bench the back rail of which is topped with 
 carved trefoils, the pair in the foreground on stools. The two late 
 comers enter with a happily expectant expression on their faces, 
 the man carrying in his left hand a flask of wine to add to the good 
 cheer. In the right foreground a page pours water from a fiagon 
 into one of the finger bowls, which were so constantly necessary at a 
 time when people still ate with their fingers. One of the finger bowls 
 is already in use, and held in the left hand of the smart gentleman 
 with the triple-plumed hat, braided inner collar, ermine outer collar, 
 and huge necklace. Two of the others filled with rose-tinted and 
 scented water stand upon the square table that is covered with a 
 white damask cloth figured in diamonds. In the center of the table 
 is the piece de resistance^ a large flat dish of broiled squabs kept hot 
 by the coal in the brazier beneath, which for obvious reasons is 
 raised high above the cloth. On the left of the dish of hot birds is 
 a covered salt cellar; and on the right a covered wine pitcher with 
 long slender spout and handle. Other visible utensils are sharp 
 pointed knives, one of them in the right hand of the gentleman in 
 the foreground, wine cups, and square flat plates. 
 
 The center of action, however, toward which the eyes of four of 
 the guests are directed, is the blazing fire. Before it sits the cook, 
 wearing cap and apron, and turning with a long flat spoon the cakes 
 that are cooking in the spider, which she balances upon the adjust- 
 able crane that depends from above. On a tabouret beside her is 
 the bowl of mixed dough, and next that another page who kneels in 
 order to keep his head out of the way of our seeing the cakes as 
 they cook. 
 
 The floor of the room is tiled. In the extreme foreground on the 
 right stands a small but very alert dog watching the page who 
 pours the water. On the left squats a cat with the kind of tail and 
 arched back and excited ears that are characteristic of a cat looking 
 at a dog. Up above, dominating the whole room, perches a parrot 
 in a large wooden cage, to the outside of which is attached the bird's 
 water cup. Size, 10 feet 10 by 10 feet 9. Lent by Duveen Brothers. 
 
i8 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 12. THE LETTER, a Gothic-Renaissance fragment woven in 
 Flanders about 1 5 1 5. The hatchings are striking and brilliant, mak- 
 ing the long robes fall in Gothic folds; but the hats and the slashed 
 hose are already Renaissance. The man musician plays both drum 
 and clarinet; the woman, a guitar. Size, 6 feet 8 by 3 feet 8. Lent 
 by Howard P. Eells. 
 
 13. THE MESSENGER, an early Renaissance tapestry with 
 luxurious border full of pomegranates and of the Van Orley type, 
 woven at Brussels about 1530. Note the richness of the costumes, 
 that are in every way true to the period, when Emperor Charles V 
 was still young, and all the world seemed good to him and his bride 
 Isabella. In the foreground, the young and noble husband, despite 
 the remonstrances of his bride, gives a letter to the messenger, who, 
 in the upper right corner, delivers it to the old Emperor, who in the 
 upper left corner has just slain a lion with his bare hands. In the 
 extreme upper left corner the Emperor appears in the heavens, 
 perhaps indicating that the tapestry was designed after his death. 
 Size, 10 feet 8 by 10 feet 9. Lent by J. H. Wade. 
 
 14. DESCENT FROM THE CROSS. An early Renaissance 
 tapestry rich with gold, designed by the famous court painter Ber- 
 nard van Orley, and woven in Brussels between 1520 and 1525. 
 While Van Orley ranks only moderately high as a painter, he ranks 
 first among Renaissance designers of tapestries, surpassing even his 
 Italian contemporary, Giulio Romano, as well as Giulio's master, 
 Raphael. The comparison between Van Orley's painting and Van 
 Orley's tapestry can be made in the Altman Collection of the 
 Metropohtan Museum, which possesses an example of both. 
 
 The group consists of four personages, the dead Christ wearing 
 the crown of thorns, Joseph of Arimathea, who carries Him down 
 the ladder that rests against the Cross, the Virgin who receives the 
 body of her Son sorrowfully, and saint John with angelic face and 
 long curling hair who assists her affectionately. Joseph's fur- 
 trimmed coat and tasseled wallet announce that their wearer is a 
 man of wealth and position. The Cross bears the usual Latin 
 initials I. N. R. I. (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), and the 
 scene is effectively backgrounded with landscape and sky, an 
 ancient castle on the left, and the Entombment on the right, with 
 Joseph and three others laying the body of Jesus in the marble 
 coffin that is to be sealed up in the cave behind. 
 
 In the four corners of the border are the symbols and names of 
 the four apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In the upper 
 left corner, the angel of Saint Matthew (SANCTVS MATTHEVS); 
 in the lower right corner, the winged lion of Saint Mark; in the lower 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 19 
 
 left corner, the winged ox of Saint Luke; in the upper right corner, 
 the eagle of Saint John. Size, 4 feet square. Lent by Lewis & 
 Simmons. 
 
 15. DIANA AND ACTAEON. A large and well composed 
 Renaissance tapestry woven at Brussels in the middle of the six- 
 teenth century, portraying Diana at the Bath with almost Gothic 
 modesty, on the right; and on the left, Actaeon, whose accidental 
 discovery of Diana was so fatal to himself. This tapestry is an 
 excellent illustration of the superiority of Renaissance verdure effect 
 in both panels and borders to those of the seventeenth and eight- 
 eenth centuries. Size, 11 feet 2 by 17 feet. Lent by WilHam 
 Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 16. ASCANIUS ON MOUNT IDA, richly colored Renaissance 
 tapestry, woven in the middle of the sixteenth century at Brussels. 
 The story and inscription are taken from Virgil's Aeneid, where 
 Venus removes Ascanius from Carthage in order that Cupid at the 
 banquet given by Dido to Aeneas, father of Ascanius, may secretly 
 inspire Dido with love for her famous guest. The inscription reads 
 translated: "By magic art the boy Ascanius is hidden far away in 
 the grove on Mount Ida." Signed by Francois Geubels. Size, 1 1 feet 
 II by 8 feet 9. Lent by WiUiam Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 17. RENAISSANCE ARMORIAL. An interesting tapestry with 
 rich swags of flowers and fruit, and lively cockatoos, but with border 
 of later date. The inscription filled out reads translated: "Wisdom 
 is less than fate." Size, 9 feet i by 6 feet 10. Lent by WilHam G. 
 Mather. 
 
 18. HAGAR IN THE DESERT, a Renaissance tapestry picturing 
 the Bible story of Hagar and her child, Ishmael, who because of the 
 jealousy of Abraham's wife, Sarah, were turned out on the Desert 
 to die. Size, 7 feet 9 by 5 feet i. Lent by H. G. Dalton. 
 
 19. CHILDREN OF NIOBE. One of the magnificent Diana 
 tapestries, rich with gold and silver, designed by Toussaint Dubreuil, 
 and woven at the Gobelins before it became a state institution in 
 1667. Tapestry weaving had been estabHshed at the GobeHn sixty 
 years before, under the protection of the French King Henri IV, by 
 the Flemish tapestry manufacturers, Comans and Planche. 
 
 The tapestry before us was woven about 1620 by Hans Tayer, 
 whose monogram appears in the right selvage. The scene depicted 
 is where Apollo and Diana in the sky, on account of the insult of- 
 fered to their mother, Latona, by Niobe, let loose their fatal arrows 
 from the sky against her seven sons and seven daughters, killing all 
 
20 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 and breaking the heart and the spirit of the unfortunate mother. 
 Size, 13 feet by 16 feet 9. Lent by Jacques SeHgmann, of Paris. 
 
 20. THE GREAT CONDE, a tapestry of great historical impor- 
 tance, and of Gobehn quahty and texture, although probably 
 woven at one of the French plants not annexed to the Gobehns 
 until two or three years later. The tapestry was put on the loom, 
 as the dates on the bottom selvage show, in the year 1659 and com- 
 pleted in the year 1664. It was formerly thought that the subject 
 was Louis XIII Receiving Absolution, but I have identified the real 
 subject, which is **The Submission of Prince Conde" to the youthful 
 King Louis XIV. The former was called the Great Conde because 
 of his successful generalship in the wars waged by France. For 
 several years, however, before the scene here illustrated, he had 
 been fighting on the side of the Spaniards against his native country, 
 and it was one of the provisions of the Peace of the Pyrenees made 
 in 1659 between France and Spain, that Prince Conde should make 
 submission, and also be pardoned and restored to his positions of 
 honor by Louis XIV. Conde was himself a Bourbon, and conse- 
 quently has his robe adorned with the Bourbon fleurs-de-lis,but his coat 
 of arms was not three fleurs-de-lis on a shield, like that of the elder 
 line to which Louis XIV belonged, but that of the younger Hne of 
 Bourbons, three fleurs-de-Hs with a bar sinister super-posed, as illus- 
 trated in the top border of this tapestry. Later I hope to have the 
 opportunity to go fully into the attribution of the tapestry, and in- 
 terpret the two monograms in the lower corners, as well as the ini- 
 tials high up in each of the borders. Size, 10 feet 7 by 15 feet 6. 
 Lent by Howard P. Eells. 
 
 21. PSYCHE CARRIED Tp THE MOUNTAINS, a tapestry 
 woven at or near Paris in the middle of the seventeenth century, and 
 similar in character to No. 20. The design of the panel is of the 
 sixteenth century, and attributed by some to Michel Coxcie. This 
 tapestry is one of three picturing scenes from the famous story that 
 was first published to the world in the days of ancient Rome by 
 Apuleius in his "Golden Ass." Psyche was the youngest and most 
 beautiful of three sisters, but nevertheless no one asked her hand in 
 marriage, because she had incurred the hostility of Venus. When 
 her parents in their distress consulted the oracle of Apollo, the 
 oracle answered: "The virgin is destined for the bride of no mortal 
 lover. Her future husband awaits her on the top of the mountain. 
 He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can resist." The tapes- 
 try before us shows Psyche carried in solemn procession, with musi- 
 cians ahead and her grieving parents behind. Of course, the mon- 
 ster on top of the mountain turns out to be Cupid himself, and the 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 21 
 
 more familiar part of the story follows. Size, lo feet 3 by 17 feet 8. 
 Lent by Jacques Seligmann, of Paris. 
 
 22. FLORA, the Goddess of Spring, one of the brilliant tapestries 
 woven at Brussels during the reign of the French king, Louis XIV, 
 and commonly called "Louis XIV Brussels." Size, 10 feet 9 by 14 
 feet. Lent by William Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 23. ACHILLES, another Louis XIV Brussels tapestry of strong 
 composition and brilliant coloration. The scene depicted is that of 
 Achilles discovered by Ulysses among the daughters of Lycomedes, 
 where he had been sent by his mother, Thetis, and dressed in girl's 
 clothing, in order to prevent him from being compelled to go to the 
 Trojan War. Size, 12 feet i by 16 feet 10. Lent by WiUiam 
 Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 24. SATYR AND NYMPH, a tapestry woven in France during 
 the period of Louis XIV, of high quaUty and interesting design. 
 Size, 10 feet 11 by 8 feet. Lent by L. Alavoine & Company. 
 
 25. DON QUIXOTE KILLING SHEEP, a tapestry woven at 
 Brussels in the eighteenth century by Urbain Leyniers, who signed 
 it in the lower corner of the panel. The story can, of course, be 
 found in Cervantes' famous chivalric romance. Size, 10 feet i by 
 10 feet 10. Lent by Mrs. E. W. Haines. 
 
 26. SANCHO PANZA, companion piece to No. 25, and made by 
 the same weaver. The scene shows Sancho Panza being tossed in 
 a blanket, much to his disgust. Size, 10 feet by 17 feet. Prop- 
 erty of the Museum, given by Mrs. E. W. Haines. 
 
 27. 28. SEASONS OF LUCAS, WINTER AND SPRING, two 
 
 of a set of four tapestries rich with gold, designed in the first part 
 of the sixteenth century by Lucas van Leyden, and woven in the 
 first part of the eighteenth century at the Gobelins for a private 
 purchaser. It is interesting to compare these ''Seasons of Lucas" 
 with the six "Months of Lucas," Nos. 29-34. The set of which the 
 tapestries before us are part came from Balloch Castle, near Edin- 
 burgh, in Scotland. Of this set William D. Thomson, author of the 
 great British history of tapestry, wrote in 191 5, "It would be a 
 national loss if the set at Balloch Castle ever had to leave the 
 country." Sizes, "Winter," 8 feet by 12 feet 8; "Spring," 8 feet 3 
 by 8 feet 8. Lent by Warwick House. 
 
 29. MONTHS OF LUCAS, MAY, the only Gobelin tapestry 
 owned in Cleveland. Like Nos. 30-34, it was woven and signed by 
 
22 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 Audran, after the sixteenth century design of Lucas van Leyden, 
 but with an eighteenth century border. Size, lo feet 3 by 15 feet 3. 
 Lent by Mrs. F. F. Prentiss. 
 
 30-34. MONTHS OF LUCAS, JANUARY, MARCH, APRIL, 
 SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER. Five tapestries out of a series of 
 twelve designed about 1530 by Lucas van Leyden, and woven at the 
 Gobelins in the eighteenth century, with eighteenth century bor- 
 ders, for the Count of Toulouse, on high warp looms in the shop of 
 Michel Audran, whose signature appears in the lower right corner 
 of the panel. This is by far the finest of several sets of Months of 
 Lucas woven at the Gobelins. The monogram in the lower corners 
 of the different pieces is the A of Alexandre, Count of Toulouse. 
 After his death the tapestries were placed in the Palace of Fontaine- 
 bleau as part of the Royal collection, and were sold in 1852 as part 
 of the possessions of Louis Philippe, deposed King of France. Later 
 they became part of the collection of Lady Somerset and hung in 
 Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire, until acquired by the present own- 
 ers. On pages 325 and 327 of Latham's *Tn English Homes" the 
 tapestries are shown in position on the walls of the Library of 
 Eastnor Castle. Added interest is given to the Months of Lucas by 
 the recent discovery by myself of the long-forgotten fact that the 
 two principal personages portrayed are the Emperor Charles I and 
 his wife, Isabella of Spain, whom he married in 1526, shortly before 
 the tapestries were designed. 
 
 At this point I should like to say that to speak of Charles V as 
 a German Emperor is misleading. His grandfather and predeces- 
 sor was Emperor Maximilian, whose hereditary title was Archduke 
 of Austria. But Charles was also the grandson of Mary of Bur- 
 gundy, and was born and brought up in Flanders, and his native 
 language was French. Spain and the vast colonial possessions of 
 Spain in America and the East Indies were inherited from his 
 mother; Burgundy, that is to say the Netherlands (Belgium and 
 Holland), with all their tapestry looms, from his grandmother, 
 Mary, through his father, Philip the Handsome; Austria, from his 
 grandfather, Maximilian. Emperor of what is now the Central 
 Empires he became by election. His possessions were more vast 
 than those of any ruler since the ancient Roman Empire. 
 
 January is distinguished by the fact that in it the Emperor 
 Charles and the Empress Isabella appear three times, and that the 
 floor tiles are adorned with the double-headed eagle of the Holy 
 Roman Empire, so called because it was neither Holy nor Roman. 
 Each of the three Charles carries a torch, and each of the three 
 Isabellas an arrow. The figure at the back of the hall is a Roman 
 God, the two-faced Janus who ushers out the Old Year with one 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 23 
 
 face, and ushers in the New Year with the other face, holding over 
 the head of the sleeping woman who symbolizes the Old Year the 
 symbol of Eternity, a serpent biting its tail. The lengths of the 
 five tapestries are: No. 30, January, 10 feet 4; No. 31, March, 15 
 feet 4; No. 32, April, 7 feet ii; No. 33, September, 15 feet 6; No. 
 
 34. October, 7 feet 9. The Toulouse Months of Lucas are lent by 
 Duveen Brothers. 
 
 35. THE VILLAGE MARKET, a large and effective composition 
 designed by Etienne Jeaurat, and woven at the Gobelins on the high 
 warp looms of Michel Audran. The tapestry before us is from the 
 collection of the Duke of Bisaccia, inherited from the collection of 
 his great-great-grandfather, the Duke of Laval-Montmorency 
 (1723-98), Marshal of France, and First Gentleman of the Chamber 
 of Monsieur. The scene on the left shows a recruiting sergeant 
 busy at his task, while on the right is the market with buildings and 
 peddlers, girls dancing, children at the wheel of fortune, and a quack 
 doctor holding up a printed placard, with a negro assistant. Size, 
 9 feet 4 by 18 feet 9. Lent by Gimpel & Wildenstein. 
 
 36. CUPID AND PSYCHE, a tapestry woven at the Gobelins in 
 1792 by CozetteFils, who signed it and dated it. M. MoHnier, the 
 Director of the Louvre, wrote of the duplicate there: "The composi- 
 tion is absolutely theatrical, and ranks among the most beautiful. 
 Cupid is less the kind of Cupid that antiquity conceives, and more 
 the actor who is playing a gracious role." The scene is from 
 Moliere's **Psiche," and shows Cupid on a bed asleep, with an arrow 
 in his right hand, while Psyche regards him by the light of an ancient 
 Roman hand lamp. Psyche has been persuaded by her jealous sis- 
 ters that her husband, who visits her only by night and whose face 
 neither she nor any of her family has seen, is the awful monster 
 foretold by the oracle, who shuns the light because of his ugliness. 
 They have persuaded her that it is her duty to destroy him as he 
 sleeps. So Psyche takes the dagger and enters the nuptial bower 
 where Cupid slumbers. Her surprise and delight at finding divine 
 beauty instead of deformity are revealed in her countenance. Size, 
 12 feet 2 by 9 feet 11. Lent by Lewis & Simmons. 
 
 37. VERTUMNUS AND POMONA, one of the most perfect 
 Beauvais-Bouchers in existence. It is illustrated in color as the 
 frontispiece of my book on tapestries, and there described. Size, 
 II feet by 8 feet 10. Lent by Gimpel & Wildenstein. 
 
 38. EUROPA, another of the exquisitely gentle and graceful 
 tapestries designed by Francois Boucher, and woven at Beauvais, 
 and consequently called Beauvais-Bouchers. These are the finest 
 
24 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 tapestries of the eighteenth century, even excelling most of the 
 Gobelins. The story is, of course, that of the transformation of 
 Jupiter into a white bull in order to swim away across the Hellespont 
 with the beautiful maiden, Europa. Size, ii feet by 8 feet lo. 
 Lent by Gimpel & Wildenstein. 
 
 39. THE FORTUNE TELLER, another Beauvais-Boucher, su- 
 perior in quality and condition. Size, lo feet lo by lo feet lo. 
 Lent by Duveen Brothers. 
 
 40. BACCHUS AND ARIADNE, still another Beauvais-Boucher 
 of marvelous beauty. Size, ii feet 7 by ii feet 3. Lent by 
 Duveen Brothers. 
 
 41. THE BATTLE, one of a pair of tapestries designed by Fran- 
 gois Casanova, and woven at Beauvais in the last half of the 
 eighteenth century. The scene is a stirring one, and of course 
 especially timely just now. Size, 10 feet 4 by 13 feet 2. Lent by 
 Gimpel & Wildenstein. 
 
 42. RUSSIAN PICNIC, one of the famous series of pictures of 
 Russian life, designed hy Leprince, and woven at Beauvais in 1778. 
 The tapestry is signed A. C. C, the initials of Andre Charlemagne 
 Charron, who was the proprietor of the Beauvais works at the time. 
 This is a very rare and important piece. Size, 8 feet 5 by 23 feet 4. 
 Lent by L. Alavoine & Company. 
 
 43. CHINESE FAIR, one of the Chinese series designed by 
 Frangois Boucher and presented by command of the French king, 
 Louis XV, to the Emperor of China, Kien-Lung. The other five 
 pieces of the set are said to be still in China and to be part of the 
 treasures of the Peking Museum. This is the only Beauvais- 
 Boucher tapestry owned in Cleveland, fin the center a Chinese lady 
 sits in a canopied wheel chair. High on a platform behind her two 
 Chinese jugglers, one solemnly reading an announcement to the 
 public, while the other holds a snake whose outstretched mouth 
 grasps the rim of the unsuspecting "barker's" hat. On the left, a 
 bird merchant, leaning on one of his cages, while his little boy 
 fingers a flute, and a noble personage with elaborate hat and cos- 
 tume counts out money, evidently to pay for a purchase. On the 
 ground four birds perch upon a revolving wheel beside a covered 
 vase and saucers of exquisite color. In the distance a Chinese 
 gateway with tower. A httle nearer, on the extreme right, an ele- 
 phant with rider. Still nearer, a cavalier and a crowd of the curious. 
 Over the head of the juggler who makes the announcement a slen- 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 25 
 
 der, triangular banner bearing the Chinese dragon. This tapestry- 
 is as fresh and vivid as the day it came from the loom, having been 
 preserved for one hundred and fifty years in the box which con- 
 veyed it from Beauvais to Peking. It is a masterpiece of intricate 
 and intelligent coloration of the kind inspired by Chinese porcelains 
 and Chinese silk brocades, and illustrates the possibilities of blues 
 and greens. Size, 10 feet 7 by 10 feet 3. Lent by Mrs. F. F. 
 Prentiss. 
 
 44, 45. PLAYING BALL, and DANCING, two tapestries out of 
 a charming set of eight designed by Jean Baptiste Huet, and woven 
 at Aubusson about 1775. Among tapestries suitable in size and 
 subject for the average American house this set is unique. It 
 excels in those decorative qualities which so happily differentiate 
 many tapestries from most paintings, and make a house a home 
 instead of a museum. In ^'Playing Ball" it is not foot or bat which 
 propels the ball, but the right hand assisted by a heavy brassard. 
 The ball itself is large and of leather, and inflated with air by the 
 bellows, which is plainly shown. In ''Dancing,'* two couples dance 
 while two musicians in the foreground play, one the flute and the 
 other the drum. The latter performer is consoled by the compan- 
 ionship of a very flirtatious-looking young lady. Sizes: ''Playing 
 Ball," 9 feet 10 by 8 feet i; "Dancing," 9 feet 5 by 10 feet. Lent 
 by William Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 46, 47. FISHING, and HARBpR SCENE, two Aubusson tapes- 
 tries of the latter part of the eighteenth century in the style of 
 Vernet. Not monumental or magnificent, but charming and grace- 
 ful, and altogether dehghtful. Sizes: "Fishing," 8 feet by 7 feet 10; 
 "Harbor Scene," 7 feet 7 by 7 feet. Lent by L. Alavoine & Com- 
 pany. 
 
 48. OUDRY VERDURE, one of the most pleasing verdures of 
 the eighteenth century type, made vivid by animals in the style of 
 Oudry, who had the good fortune not only to bring back to pros- 
 perity the weaving of tapestries at Beauvais in the second quarter 
 of the eighteenth century, principally by employing Frangois 
 Boucher to make designs for the Beauvais works, but who also be- 
 came artistic director of the Gobelins. Size, 9 feet 3 by 15 feet 8. 
 Lent by WilHam Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 49. ^ FORTUNE TELLERS, a tapestry woven in England at the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century by a weaver probably trained 
 at the famous Mortlake works, which had been established in the 
 first quarter of the seventeenth century but were abandoned in 
 1702. Size, 7 feet 6 by 6 feet 5. Lent by Dawson. 
 
26 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 50. VENUS AND CUPID, a large-leaf verdure tapestry woven at 
 Enghien in the sixteenth century. Venus and Cupid are shown at 
 the top of the tapestry, illustrating the passage from Virgil quoted 
 below in Latin which, translated, reads: 
 
 "Let Venus herself appear and the cupids quickly follow." Size, 
 lo feet 7 by lo feet ii. Lent by Howard P. Eells, 
 
 51-56. DIDO AND AENEAS. Six out of a set of eight impressive 
 and interesting Italian tapestries woven in the first half of the 
 seventeenth century in Florence by M. Wauters, who signed them. 
 The signature of /. F. Romanellus (Romanelli) appears on one of 
 them. They were woven at the Barberini Palace in Rome, and 
 remained there until Charles M. Ffoulke, by bringing to America 
 the huge Barberini collection of tapestries, rendered his native 
 country a distinguished service. The average height of the series 
 is 13 feet 5, and the subjects of the tapestries in the Garden Court, 
 with lengths, are as follows: No. 51, Cupid and Dido, 20 feet 10; 
 No. 52, Plans of Carthage, 18 feet 6; No. 53, Pursued by Cupid, 
 13 feet 9; No. 54, Mercury and Aeneas, 11 feet; No. 55, The Part- 
 ing, 13 feet; No. 56, Death of Dido, 15 feet 4. The Dido and 
 Aeneas set is the property of the Museum, given by Mrs. F. F. 
 Prentiss, in memory of Dr. Dudley P. Allen. 
 
 57. CHILDREN PLAYING, an Italian tapestry, woven at the 
 Barberini works in Rome in the first half of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. It is one of the series designed by Raphael's pupil, Giovanni 
 d'Udine, for Pope Leo X, but the tapestries woven from the cartoons 
 in Flanders in the sixteenth century were lost during the siege and 
 capture of Rome in 1 527. The tapestry before us was formerly part 
 of the collection of the Princess Mathilde, in the catalogue of whose 
 sale at Paris in 1904 it was illustrated as No. 448. Size, 10 feet by 
 9 feet I. Lent by Dawson. 
 
 58. MEDICI ARMORIAL, a tapestry bearing the Medici coat of 
 arms, woven at the Medici works in Florence during the first half 
 of the seventeenth century. Size, 8 feet by 5 feet 11. Lent by 
 Howard P. Eells. 
 
 59. SPANISH ARMORIAL, with the Spanish inscription: ''Mas 
 vale,'' meaning ''It is better." Not important but interesting, and 
 probably woven in Spain. Size, 3 feet 9 by 4 feet 5. Lent by 
 Howard P. Eells. 
 
 60. HUNTING SCENE, showing two mounted huntsmen with 
 their attendants returning from their sport. Woven at Aubusson 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 27 
 
 in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Size, 5 feet 10 by 6 feet 
 4. Lent by Myron T. Herrick. 
 
 61, 62. GARDEN OF LOVE, two long and narrow Renaissance 
 tapestries, woven for use as friezes. Made in Flanders in the six- 
 teenth century. Sizes, 6 feet 4 by 12 feet 2; 5 feet 11 by 10 feet 6. 
 Lent by Myron T. Herrick. 
 
 63. LARGE-LEAF VERDURE. Woven at Enghien in the six- 
 teenth century. One of the type commonly called Gothic by the 
 trade, but sometimes labeled in museums as Italian seventeenth cen- 
 tury, incorrectly in both cases. Size, 12 feet 2 by 8 feet 5. Lent by 
 L. Alavoine & Company. 
 
 64. MILLE FLEUR SCREEN, a delightful piece of color of ex- 
 cellent quality, woven near the end of the fifteenth century in 
 Flanders. Size, 2 feet 2 by 2 feet 6. Lent by W. G. Mather. 
 
 65. TAPESTRY COURTSHIP, a tiny but interesting seventeenth 
 century English tapestry, containing five scenes. Lent by W. G. 
 Mather. 
 
 66. VERDURE TAPESTRY, one of the kind justly popular for 
 purely decorative use. Woven at Brussels in the first half of the 
 eighteenth century. Size, 8 feet 7 by 4 feet 10. Lent by W. G. 
 Mather. 
 
 67. ALEXANDER ENTERING BABYLON, a tapestry \voven 
 at Aubusson by A. Grellet^ whose signature it bears. The design is 
 that of one of the Great Alexander Series, designed by Charles 
 Lebrun for Louis XIV, woven magnificently at the GobeHns, and 
 copied well at Brussels and badly at Aubusson. Property of the 
 Museum, bequest of Liberty E. Holden. 
 
 68. 69. ROMEO AND JULIET and THE TEMPEST. Two 
 
 modern American tapestries on Shakespearean subjects, out of a set 
 of five designed by Albert Herter and woven at the Herter Looms 
 in New York. An interesting attempt to get away from the copy- 
 ing of old tapestries. Height, 9 feet 3, and lengths, 16 feet 6 and 
 5 feet 6, respectively. Lent by The Herter Looms. 
 
 70. BOUCHER PASTORALE, one of the finest tapestries ever 
 woven in America, following closely the style and texture of Beau- 
 vais-Bouchers. Size, 9 feet by 10 feet 6. Lent by William Baum- 
 garten & Company. 
 
28 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 71. GOLD CHAIR BACK, with cartoon, a modern tapestry, rich 
 with gold, woven under my personal direction, in the texture of the 
 sixteenth century, and in a design copied from one of the compart- 
 ments of the wide and splendid borders designed by Giulio Romano 
 for the Spanish series of the famous Acts of the Apostles set designed 
 by Raphael for Pope Leo X. Lent by William Baumgarten & Com- 
 pany. 
 
 72. COLOR SKETCH, from which were made cartoons for the 
 tapestries woven for the upper hall of the residence of Charles M. 
 Schwab, Riverside Drive, New York City. Lent by William 
 Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 73. MODELS OF HIGH WARP AND LOW WARP LOOMS. 
 Gift of William Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 74. COLOR SKETCHES of the two famous Beauvais-Bouchers, 
 "Bird Catchers," and ''Fountain of Love." Lent by WilHam 
 Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 75. ADORATION OF THE MAGI, a modern tapestry, the mid- 
 dle section of one of a set of five, designed and woven for the Queen 
 of All Saints Church in Brooklyn, N. Y. Size, lo feet by ii feet. 
 Lent by the Edgewater Tapestry Looms. 
 
 76. THREE OF THE COLOR SKETCHES for the set of which 
 No. 77 is a part. Lent by the Edgewater Tapestry Looms. 
 
 77. SHEPHERDESS, a modern American mille fleur, with per- 
 sonage. Size, 5 feet by 6 feet. Lent by the Edgewater Tapestry 
 Looms. 
 
 78. PETIT POINT PILLOW COVERS in real tapestry, but in 
 the style of needle work, part of the design being in coarse stitch, 
 and part in fine stitch, a result accomplished by the use of double 
 warps. Lent by the Edgewater Tapestry Looms. 
 
 79. SAMPLES OF MODERN AMERICAN TAPESTRY, show- 
 ing great ingenuity in the development of different loom effects 
 and in the accompHshment of pleasing texture at minimum cost. 
 Lent by the Edgewater Tapestry Looms. 
 
 80. FIRST TAPESTRY MADE IN AMERICA. Lent by 
 William Baumgarten & Company. 
 
 81. COPTIC TAPESTRIES. Property of the Museum. 
 
LOAN EXHIBITION OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 29 
 
 82. MEXI CAN SERAPE. Property of the Museum, gift of Mrs. 
 Andrew Squire. 
 
 83. NAVAJO BLANKET. Property of the Museum, gift of Mrs. 
 L. E. Holden. 
 
 84. ORIENTAL KELIM. Property of the Museum, gift of J. H. 
 Wade. 
 
 85. DON QUIXOTE BANQUETED, a tapestry woven at Brus- 
 sels in the eighteenth century by Urbain Leyniers, who signed it. 
 Part of the same set as Nos. 25 and 26 and one of seven brought 
 from Mexico in 1848 by Daniel Coit. Size, 10 feet by 17 feet. 
 Lent by Mrs. E. W. Haines. 
 
 86. FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, a late Gothic tapestry made by 
 French-Flemish weavers in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. 
 Like the famous "Coronation of the Virgin" at the Cathedral of Sens, 
 which it resembles, it has three scenes, the "Flight into Egypt" in 
 the middle being preceded in the left by the "Massacre of the Inno- 
 cents," and followed on the right by "Jesus Among the Doctors." 
 
 The middle scene that, like the other two scenes, is framed in 
 Gothic jeweled columns with hexagonal bases, pictures the story 
 not only as told in the Bible: 
 
 "And when the wise men were departed, behold, the angel of 
 the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying. Arise, and take the 
 young child and his mother, and flee unto Egypt, and be thou there 
 until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child, to de- 
 stroy him. When he arose he took the young child and his mother 
 by night, and departed into Egypt." 
 
 But also as amplified in legendary history: 
 
 "When it was discovered that the Holy Family had fled from 
 Bethlehem, Herod sent his officers in pursuit of them. And it hap- 
 pened that when the Holy Family had traveled some distance, they 
 came to a field where a farmer was sowing wheat. And the Virgin 
 said to the farmer: 
 
 "If any shall ask you whether we passed this way, ye shall 
 answer: Such persons passed this way when I was sowing this 
 wheat. For the Holy Virgin was too wise and too good to save her 
 Son by instructing the man to tell a falsehood. 
 
 "But behold, a miracle! By the power of the Infant Saviour, 
 in the space of a single night the seed sprang up into stalk, blade 
 and ear, fit for the sickle. And the next morning when the officers 
 of Herod came up, and inquired of the farmer, saying: 
 
 "Have you seen an old man with a woman and child traveling 
 this way? 
 
30 
 
 THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 "The farmer, who was reaping his wheat, in great wonder and 
 admiration, replied; Yes. 
 
 **And they asked him: How long since? 
 
 "And he answered: When I was sowing this wheat. 
 
 "Whereupon the officers of Herod turned back, and left off 
 pursuing the Holy Family." 
 
 Very clearly is it all pictured: the farmer in the distance sowing 
 his wheat; and on the left, reaping the miraculously grown wheat 
 which almost hides the mounted Roman soldiers, while in the fore- 
 ground Mary and the Infant pursue the even tenor of their way, 
 seated upon a large-eared donkey, and Joseph, with basket in right 
 hand and bundle pendant from a rough cane swung over his left 
 shoulder, regards his bride anxiously. 
 
 Another favorite legend connected with the Flight into Egypt 
 is that upon the approach of the Holy Child the idols of the 
 Egyptians fell to the ground. In the upper right corner of our tap- 
 estry one of these idols is seen toppling from his pedestal, with 
 broken standard still clasped in his right hand. 
 
 The effect of the tapestry as a whole is heightened by the mille 
 fleur border below, and woven fringe above which takes the place of 
 the usual plain hatchings. 
 
 Size, 3 feet 4 by 7 feet 8. Lent by John L. Severance. 
 
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 
 
 3125 00132 2029 
 
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