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The Crusaders Reach Jerusalem (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata)

Designer Designed by Domenico Paradisi Italian
Manufactory Woven at the San Michele
Workshop director Pietro Ferloni Italian
designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1732–39
Not on view
Commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a great-nephew of Pope Alexander VIII, this was part of a massive series, heroic in scale as well as narrative, of fifteen tapestries depicting the romanticized version of the Christians’ First Crusade into Jerusalem recounted in Tasso’s sixteenth-century epic poem, Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered).

As the crusaders reach the city of Jerusalem, two of the Christian leaders kneel in the foreground, both in Classical armor with garments of red, blue and yellow. The younger man is presumably Godfrey of Bouillon. Other mounted men in gray armor are seen behind. Rising in the background on the right are the walls of Jerusalem.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Crusaders Reach Jerusalem (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata)
  • Designer: Designed by Domenico Paradisi (Italian, active 1689–1721)
  • Manufactory: Woven at the San Michele workshop
  • Workshop director: Pietro Ferloni (Italian, active 1717–70)
  • Date: designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1732–39
  • Culture: Italian, Rome
  • Medium: Wool, silk (16-18 warps per inch, 7 per cm.)
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 144 in. × 230 in. (365.8 × 584.2 cm) (varying heights: left edge: 143"; center: 144"; right edge: 142")
  • Classification: Textiles-Tapestries
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Elizabeth U. Coles, in memory of her son, William F. Coles, 1892
  • Object Number: 92.1.15
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Aladin Hears of the Crusaders' Approach (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata), Domenico Paradisi Italian, Wool, silk (16-18 warps per inch, 7 per cm.), Italian, Rome
Aladin Hears of the Crusaders' Approach (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata)
Multiple artists/makers
designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1732–39
Erminia and the Shepherd (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata), Domenico Paradisi Italian, Wool, silk (16-18 warps per inch, 7 per cm.), Italian, Rome
Erminia and the Shepherd (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata)
Multiple artists/makers
designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1732–39
Sophronia's Defiance (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata), Domenico Paradisi Italian, Wool, silk (16-18 warps per inch, 7 per cm.), Italian, Rome
Sophronia's Defiance (from a set of Scenes from Gerusalemme Liberata)
Multiple artists/makers
designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1739
Bookcase (one of a pair), Niccolo Michetti Italian, Walnut and poplar; iron hinges and locks, metal wire; antique silk and linen brocatelle door curtains (not original), Italian, Rome
Bookcase (one of a pair)
Niccolo Michetti
ca. 1715
Arms of the Greder Family of Solothurn, Switzerland, Wool, silk, metal thread (20-22 warps per inch, 8-9 per cm.), French, possibly Paris or Lorraine
Arms of the Greder Family of Solothurn, Switzerland
French, possibly Paris or Lorraine
ca. 1691–94

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