4 FLANDERS, MIDDLE XV CENTURY
Wool and Silk.
H. 8 ft. 4 in.
W. 20 ft. 4 in.
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.
Exhibited:
Chicago Art Institute, Gothic Exhibition, 1921.
Lent by P. W. French & Company.
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.
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.
5 FLANDERS, MIDDLE XV CENTURY
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.
Formerly in the Collection of Edouard Aynard, Paris.
Exhibited:
Exhibition of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Old Palace of Sagan, Paris, 1913.