English embroidery, or opus anglicanum (English work), was present across Europe. This small but fine panel, which likely decorated the front of a private altar, presents the Crucifixion of Jesus witnessed by Saint John, the Virgin, and saints James the Greater (with a satchel), Peter (with a key), Paul (with a sword), and Andrew (with an X-shaped cross). Reading from left to right, the coats of arms are those of Hastings, Fitz-Alan, England, Castile-Léon, DeClare, and DeVere. The placement of the arms of King Edward I (r. 1272–1307) and his queen, Eleanor of Castile, date the embroidery to between Edward’s ascension in 1272 and Eleanor’s death in 1290.
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J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition," February 17–March 24, 1940.
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Ecclesiastical Vestments of the Middle Ages: An Exhibition," March 1–December 31, 1971.
National Gallery of Canada. "Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259 to 1328," April 28–July 2, 1972.
Victoria and Albert Museum. "Opus Anglicanum: Masterpieces of English Medieval Embroidery," October 1, 2016–February 5, 2017.
Lethaby, William Richard. "Notes on Some Medieval Embroideries in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum." In The Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London. 2nd ser., Vol. 21. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, November 1906–June 1907. pp. 394–95.
Guide to the Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1914. p. 29.
Morris, Frances. "An English Ecclesiastical Embroidery in the Morgan Collection." Art in America 4 (1916). pp. 195–200, fig. 1.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 101.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 101.
Little, Frances. "An Exhibition of English Embroidery." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 24, no. 10 (October 1929). p. 262, ill.
Christie, A.G.I. English Mediaeval Embroidery: a brief survey of English embroidery dating from the beginning of the 10th century until the end of the 14th. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1938. no. 52, pp. 8, 96–99, pl. L A.
Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 98, p. 34, pl. XLVII.
Griffith, Beatrice Fox. Treasure Under Glass. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1963. pp. 49, 51.
King, Donald. Opus Anglicanum : English Medieval Embroidery. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1963. no. 33, pp. 20–21.
Montefusco, Francesco Bignozzi. Il Piviale di San Domenico. Arte in Emilia, Vol. 7. Bologna: R. Pàtron, 1970. p. 28, fig. 6.
Husband, Timothy B. "Ecclesiastical Vestments of the Middle Ages." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 29, no. 7 (March 1971). pp. 285–90, fig. 2.
Young, Bonnie. "Opus Anglicanum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 29, no. 7 (March 1971). p. 297, fig. 16.
Verdier, Philippe, Peter Brieger, and Marie Farquhar Montpetit, ed. Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259-1328. Vol. 2. Ottowa: National Gallery of Canada, 1972. no. 85, pp. 136–37, pl. 111–111a.
Verdier, Philippe, Peter Brieger, and Marie Farquhar Montpetit, ed. Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259-1328. Vol. 1. Ottowa: National Gallery of Canada, 1972. no. 85, p. 164.
Gillerman, Dorothy, ed. Transformations of the Court Style: Gothic Art in Europe, 1270 to 1330. Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1977. no. 34, pp. 94–95, ill.
Browne, Clare, Glyn Davies, and Michael A. Michael, ed. English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016. no. 17, pp. 136–37, 146, 232.
Morgan, Nigel. "Embroidered Textiles in the Service of the Church." In English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum, edited by Clare Browne, Glyn Davies, and Michael A. Michael. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016. no. 17, p. 34.
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