79 ANTWERP, LATE XVII CENTURY
Wool and Silk.
H. 32 in.
W. 24 in.
Illustrated: Schmitz, Bild-Teppiche, p. 265.
Lent by Mrs. William H. Crocker.
SCENES FROM THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST: On a black ground strewn with flowers, five oval panels framed with wreaths: the Annunciation; the Nativity; the Adoration of the Magi; the Circumcision; the Flight into Egypt.
This very unusual tapestry was the work of Balthasar Bosmanns, one of the greatest weavers of Antwerp. The realistically drawn yet richly decorative flowers show the influence of the school of flower painters of which Jan Brueghel was the most famous. The landscape in the Adoration and the Flight into Egypt are rendered with exquisite delicacy. The effect of the panels in such light, fresh, almost pastel colors against the black ground is a daring and striking decorative experiment. Another rendering of the same cartoon is in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Schmitz, Bild-Teppiche, p. 186.
[2] Lindner, Der Breslauer Froissart.
[3] Amberger Catalogue.