Amya Petitioning Faustus for the Custody of Saint Mamas
This recently discovered sheet is a rare work by Jean Cousin the Elder, one of the most central and appealing artists of the French Renaissance. He was active as a designer of tapestry, stained glass, and book illustration, as well as ephemeral festival decorations for the French court. Nonetheless, Cousin’s oeuvre has proven difficult to reconstruct as the majority of his designs were ultimately executed by skilled artisans in other media.
This is one of a small number of unassailably autograph sheets by his hand. It is connected to a set of eight tapestries illustrating the life of St. Mamas—of which three survive today-- commissioned in 1543 for the cathedral in Langres.
Saint Mamas was an obscure child martyr who lived in Capadoccia in the second century. He was born in prison to a father who died just before his birth and a mother who died just after. A local widow, Amya, was instructed by divine vision to petition the governor for permission to adopt the child and give his parents a Christian burial. The lost tapestry for which this is a study would presumably have been the first in the series.
Perrin Stein, May 2014
This is one of a small number of unassailably autograph sheets by his hand. It is connected to a set of eight tapestries illustrating the life of St. Mamas—of which three survive today-- commissioned in 1543 for the cathedral in Langres.
Saint Mamas was an obscure child martyr who lived in Capadoccia in the second century. He was born in prison to a father who died just before his birth and a mother who died just after. A local widow, Amya, was instructed by divine vision to petition the governor for permission to adopt the child and give his parents a Christian burial. The lost tapestry for which this is a study would presumably have been the first in the series.
Perrin Stein, May 2014
Artwork Details
- Title: Amya Petitioning Faustus for the Custody of Saint Mamas
- Artist: Jean Cousin the Elder (French, Souci (?) ca. 1490–ca. 1560 Paris (?))
- Date: ca. 1543
- Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, with white gouache, over black chalk
- Dimensions: 9 1/4 x 12 5/8 in. (23.5 x 32 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 2001
- Object Number: 2001.106
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Multiple artists/makers
n.d.
Jean Cousin the Elder
ca. 1544
Jean Cousin the Elder
1510–60
Jean Cousin the Elder
1510–60
Jean Cousin the Elder
Royer
1560
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