Tapisserie dite de Juvenal des Ursins
Crédit photographique : (C) RMN (Musée du Louvre) / Droits réservés
Période : 15e siècle, Bas Moyen Âge (Europe occidentale)
Technique/Matière : tapisserie (technique)
Site de production : France (origine)

@credits

Along with another fragment in the Louvre, this tapestry must originally have formed part of a more important wall hanging. It bears the coat of arms of the Juvénal des Ursins, a family of magistrates from Champagne, for whom it was probably woven. The most renowned member of the family, Guillaume Juvénal des Ursins (1401-72), was chancellor to kings Charles VII and Louis XI. In addition to playing a decorative role, the tapestry is manifestly designed to impress.

A highly decorative heraldic tapestry

The background of the tapestry is made up of alternating vertical bands of red and white, decorated with uprooted flowers and an initial in negative that seems to be a J. Standing out against this background are two mounds of earth, forming flowered and wooded islands, on each of which stands a bear gripping a tree. The two animals have a long chain around the neck and a short cape over the shoulders. Rising up in the center of the tapestry is a great branch bearing two shields, one with the coat of arms of the Juvénals, the other with a coat of arms that seems to be that of the Sydenhall family.

The ostentatious character of the tapestry

The tapestry seems to have been largely designed to impress. The shield bearing the Juvénal’s coat of arms, as well as the letter that serves as a decorative motif and could well be the initial of their name, attests to the importance of that family, who probably commissioned the tapestry. In addition, it displays two emblems of the Juvénal des Ursins, who claimed to be related to the famous Italian family of the Orsini: the bears in the center and, strewn about the background, a flower of the Acanthaceae family, “Acanthus mollis”, once familiarly called “ursine” in French and today “pied-d’ours” (or “bear’s breeches” in English). Guillaume, the most renowned member of the family, had himself portrayed by Jean Fouquet against a background of carved wooden panelling bearing his coat of arms flanked by two small bears and resting on a three-lobed flower, a stylized representation of “Acanthus mollis”.
It is interesting to see here the coat of arms, emblem, and beginning of the family cipher being extended over the entire surface of the fabric, at a time when borders did not yet exist in tapestry.

Possible origins for the tapestry

The alternating bands decorated with floral branches link this fragment to a group of tapestries of which the most famous are the four fragments representing figures in a rose garden, known as “La Baillée des Roses” (orPresentation of the Roses), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. These are attributed to workshops in southern Flanders and are dated to 1450-55. In other respects, the motif of flowered isles set against a background of “uprooted” branches - or, as here, flowers - relates this tapestry to a group of “mille fleurs” tapestries that form part of a purely French (and specifially Parisian) stylistic trend; the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestry, in the Musée National du Moyen Age, is probably the best known work of this group and is dated to the late fifteenth century.
All of these considerations indicate that this tapestry was made in southern Flanders or France, during the latter part of the fifteenth century.

The Garden of False Learning, ca. 1550–80
French
Hanging, wool and silk on canvas

110 1/2 x 153 1/8 in. (280.7 x 388.9 cm)
Gift of Constance McCann Betts, Mrs. Winston F. C. Guest, and Frasier W. McCann, 1942 (42.193.2)

@credits

This embroidered wall hanging depicts an episode from the Table(or Tablet) of Cebes, a once renowned literary work of ancient Greece. The Table, a pagan Pilgrim’s Progress, was enormously popular in Renaissance Europe and was printed in many editions. The story is as follows: Strangers visiting the temple of Saturn in Thebes are attracted by a tablet on the wall which bears a mysterious design. An old man, noticing their puzzled expressions, explains that the design symbolizes the course of human life, its trials and eventual rewards. His interpretation applies the Socratic doctrine that only the education of the mind and the consciousness of virtue can lead to happiness. Life, the old guide explains, is shown as a plot of ground contained within a wall and subdivided by two other concentric walls, each with a gate. At the gate of the outermost wall are the souls of infants about to enter life. As each passes through the portal into a large enclosure and becomes a young wayfarer, he meets various allegorical figures of dubious virtue, who point out the easy pleasures of existence. Drunk with the wine of Error and Ignorance, with which he has been plied, the average wayfarer devotes himself to riotous living and soon enough endures the usual aftermath of pain and misery. When all seems lost, Penitence rescues him, and at length he reaches a gate of the inner wall, beyond which are found those who, seeking Learning, are misled by False Learning. The arts and sciences and the more polite vices take up much time in this pleasant region. The wayfarer might discover, however, even from False Learning, information that could be useful on the last lap of the journey. Thus fortified, some wayfarers carry on and, after a painful pilgrimage, reach the innermost gate, guarded by the figure of True Learning, beyond which is happiness and journey’s end. 

The Gift of the Heart

© 1983 RMN

@credits

At the dawn of the 15th century, the style known as “International Gothic” had spread throughout Europe, and was widely embraced in tapestry-making. The tapestry known as the  Offrande du Coeur (“Offering of the Heart”), doubtless woven in Arras c.1400-10, reflects the aristocratic ideals of the early 15th century. It illustrates one of the commonest themes in the iconography of courtly love - a nobleman offering his heart to his beloved. The theme also features in courtly romances such as the Romance of the Rose and in the works of important medieval French writers such as Guillaume de Machaut and Christine de Pisan. It was often depicted on caskets or ivory boxes containing mirrors. The scene is set in a garden. The characters are wearing garments fashionable in the early 15th century. Arras, then part of Flanders, is generally agreed to have been the main European center for tapestry-making in the early 15th century, but there were also workshops in Paris, where the cartoons for this tapestry are thought to have been drawn. Contacts such as this between the principal artistic centers were common in early 15th-century Europe.

n courtly love the knight experiences different stages in the conquest of his lady; these were codified in the literature of the twelfth century. The gift of the heart is one recurrent theme. Around 1400, when this tapestry was made, the most celebrated and widely known of the courtly writings was the Romance of the Rose. It describes the suitor’s progress through a “Garden of Love” where the rose to be plucked was none other than the lady herself. Let us begin with the knight’s declaration of love. Observe the heart, the symbol of love offered by the lord to his lady, and note the circle made by the animals surrounding the two symmetrically balanced figures. The figures and the landscape are handled differently: strong contour lines make the figures stand out sharply and hatching is used to convey relief, whereas the landscape is evoked by a repetition of identical but variously colored geometrical motifs. The expressiveness of the figures contrasts with the decorative character of the landscape.

Tenture des Arts libéraux : l’Arithmétique, Flandres, 15e siècle

@credits

This tapestry belongs to a set depicting the Liberal Arts. The scene is organised around a young lady (Arithmetic) standing behind a table, busy showing some tokens with her right hand and a mathematics book with her left one. Among the men next to her, two are more involved with the action. The first one, sitting at her left is following her indications; the second one, standing behind the first man holds a bow with stick of different lengths.

Tenture des Mois Lucas, Février : les jeux

Musée national du château de Pau - RMN

@credits

This set of tapestries is organised around the theme of seasons, whose name comes from the supposed author of the original version, the Flemish Lucas Cornelis or Lucas de  Olanda. The manufacture des Gobelins reproduced them a dozen of times during the 17th and 18th century, proof of its success.

The scenes depicts aristrocatical games and activities (hunt, archery, card games…)  as well as the rest of the population’s (gardening, fishing, harvest…)

Tapisserie de l’Apocalypse/ Apocalypse tapestry -«…une femme enveloppée du soleil, la lune sous ses pieds, et une couronne de douze étoiles sur sa tête.»

@credits

The Apocalypse Tapestry is a medieval French tapestry commissioned by Louis I, the Duke of Anjou, and produced between 1377 and 1382. It depicts the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine in rich and colourful images, spread over a number of sections. Despite being lost and mistreated in the late 18th century, the tapestry was recovered and restored in the 19th and is now on display at the Chateau d’Angers. It is the oldest French medieval tapestry to have survived.

Tapisserie à fond d’ornements sur laquelle sont peintes des armoiries couronnées, et entourées des colliers des ordres, du Maréchal d’Aumont.

@credits

The Aumont family take its name from the Duchy of Aumont, a small commune in the department of the Somme. The Duché-Pairie d’Aumont was established in 1665 from the Marquisat of Isles-en-Champagne, the title being granted to Antoine d’Aumont de Rochebaron (1601–1669). For a long time, the ducs d’Aumont had the title of first Gentlemanof the Chamber of the King (gentilhomme de la chambre du Roi).

Tenture du Prince Chinois : “le voyage de l’empereur”. Belin Jean, Blain de Fontenay (dit), Du Mons (d’après) Vernansal Guy Louis, le Vieux (d’après), château de Compiègne

@credits

Louis XIV offered this tapestry to one of the son he had with Mme de Montespan, the count of Toulouse. The tapestry depicts Emperor Kangxi in a palanquin, and an old man, who appears to be Father Schall wearing the insignias of a 1st rank mandarin, title he obtained when he became Director of the Imperial Observatory

The Garden of False Learning, ca. 1550–80
French
Hanging, wool and silk on canvas

110 1/2 x 153 1/8 in. (280.7 x 388.9 cm)
Gift of Constance McCann Betts, Mrs. Winston F. C. Guest, and Frasier W. McCann, 1942 (42.193.2)

@credits

This embroidered wall hanging depicts an episode from the Table (or Tablet) of Cebes, a once renowned literary work of ancient Greece. The Table, a pagan Pilgrim’s Progress, was enormously popular in Renaissance Europe and was printed in many editions. The story is as follows: Strangers visiting the temple of Saturn in Thebes are attracted by a tablet on the wall which bears a mysterious design. An old man, noticing their puzzled expressions, explains that the design symbolizes the course of human life, its trials and eventual rewards. His interpretation applies the Socratic doctrine that only the education of the mind and the consciousness of virtue can lead to happiness. Life, the old guide explains, is shown as a plot of ground contained within a wall and subdivided by two other concentric walls, each with a gate. At the gate of the outermost wall are the souls of infants about to enter life. As each passes through the portal into a large enclosure and becomes a young wayfarer, he meets various allegorical figures of dubious virtue, who point out the easy pleasures of existence. Drunk with the wine of Error and Ignorance, with which he has been plied, the average wayfarer devotes himself to riotous living and soon enough endures the usual aftermath of pain and misery. When all seems lost, Penitence rescues him, and at length he reaches a gate of the inner wall, beyond which are found those who, seeking Learning, are misled by False Learning. The arts and sciences and the more polite vices take up much time in this pleasant region. The wayfarer might discover, however, even from False Learning, information that could be useful on the last lap of the journey. Thus fortified, some wayfarers carry on and, after a painful pilgrimage, reach the innermost gate, guarded by the figure of True Learning, beyond which is happiness and journey’s end. Depicted in the Museum’s embroidery is the second leg of the journey: the young wayfarer joins the sophisticated denizens of the Garden of False Learning. The Museum also owns the last in the sequence, Wayfarer Crowned by Happiness (69.298). Both embroideries appear to have been made by or for the Limousin family Fenis de Prade, a provenance indicated by coats of arms, and after 1547, the date of the woodcut by Strasbourg artist David Kandel that served as model for some of the figures.

Air: Louis XIV as Jupiter, from a set of eight wall hangings depicting the Elements and the Seasons, ca. 1683
French
Silk, wool, and metal thread

168 x 108 in. (427 x 274.3 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1946 (46.43.4)

@credits

Reflecting the grandeur of the official court style of Charles Le Brun (1619–1690), named “premier peintre” by Louis XIV in 1662, the impressive program of Elements and Seasons is made more personal by having the king, the marquise de Montespan, and six of their children take the roles of the central figures. The complete set, of which four hangings are in the Museum, may be identical to wall decorations in “tapisserie de petit point” that decorated the king’s apartment at the Château de Rambouillet. Here, the monarch is shown as Jupiter, seated on an eagle and holding thunderbolts and a Medusa-headed shield. Also meant to personify Air, the figure is surrounded by winged creatures—parrots, raptors (including a hooded falcon), songbirds, and butterflies—as well as wind instruments. Commissioned by the marquise de Montespan (1641–1707), the hangings were probably embroidered at the Parisian convent of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Providence, which also executed other royal projects, including furnishings for Versailles. One of the marquise’s favorite charities—she was named a director in 1681 and retired there ten years later—the convent provided vocational training in needlework for orphan girls.