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Artwork Details
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Title:The Fall and Redemption of Man
Date:ca. 1480–90
Culture:South Netherlandish
Medium:Wool warp, wool, silk, silver and gilt wefts
Dimensions:Overall: 122 1/4 x 153in. (310.5 x 388.6cm)
Classification:Textiles-Tapestries
Credit Line:Bequest of Oliver H. Payne, 1917
Object Number:17.189
Inscription: (at top of cross): I[esus] N[azarenus] R[ex] I[udaeorum] (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews [John 19:19])
(top left, on prophet Zacharias’ scroll): VINEA . DABIT . FRUCTU [w/ macron] SUUM . ZACHARIA . VII [symbol?] FRUCTU[M] (the vine shall give its fruit, Zacharia VII [reference should be Zacharia VIII.12])
(top left, on hem of Zachariah’s robe): DIT : dEETSDOEH [image of a vine] [Phi] [Pi] V (too fragmentary for interpretation)
(left, on hem of robe of boy): […] AV […] VI [..] AWT (too fragmentary for interpretation)
(on fainting Mary’s robe): NOREVMVN . T / […] MO H […] (too fragmentary for interpretation)
(on Moses’ left tablet): VNV[M] / COE[AT] . DE / V[S] . NEC . / IVNES / VANA . P / WM [should be PVMICI]. SA / BBA[TA]. S[AN]C[T]I / FICES [should be FIDES] . / [VI]DEAS . I[N] (May God unite [us all], and not [just] the foolish, small youths, [by] the pumice stone of the saint so as to form a single mass. May you observe the Sabbath [with] faith)
(on Moses’ right tablet: NAE / […] TE / IO . SI / 9SSIS / […]] SI . SOI / […] SM[superscript 9] . / […] IS . / […] V[superscript 9] . AI / […] AI[superscript 9] . (too fragmentary for interpretation)
(top right, on Prophet Solomon’s scroll): DE . FRACTU [should be FRUCTU] . MANU[U]M . SUARU[M] . PLA[N]TAVI[T] / VINEA[M] . P[RO]V . […] XXXO [should be XXXI, XI] / salomo[n] (from fruit of her hands she planted a vineyard [Proverbs 31:16], Solomon)
(bottom middle, on Apostle Saint Paul’s scroll): MISIT . DEUS . FIL[I]UM . SUUM . UT . EOS . QUI . / SUB . LEGE . ERANT . REDIM[ER]ET . GAL . 9 . (God sent His son so that he may redeem those who were under the law [1 Galatians 4:4-5])
(on robe of angel behind Adam and Eve): GOEW [name]
Emile Gavet, Paris; Oliver H. Payne, New York (until 1917)
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Masterpieces of Tapestry from the 14th to the 16th century," October 27, 1973–January 7, 1974.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Tapestry from the 14th to the 16th century," February 8–April 21, 1974.
Destrée, Joseph. "Juste de Gand (Josse van Wassenhove), part 2." L'Art Flamand et Hollandais 18 (1912). pp. 7–8, fig. 15.
Wood, D. T. B. "'Credo' Tapestries, Part 1." The Burlington Magazine 24, no. 131 (February 1914). p. 254.
Breck, Joseph. "A Tapestry Bequeathed by Colonel Oliver H. Payne." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 13, no. 2 (February 1918). pp. 46–52.
Göbel, Heinrich. Wandteppiche. 1. Teil, Die Niederlande. Vol. 1. Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1923. pp. 410–411, ill. vol II fig 368a.
Hunter, George Leland. The Practical Book of Tapestries. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1925. p. 253, pl. XVIII–e.
Ackerman, Phyllis. "Recently Identified Designers of Gothic Tapestries." The Art Bulletin 9, no. 2 (December 1926). p. 152, fig. 4.
Rorimer, James J. "Reports of the Departments." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 65 (1934). pp. 29–30.
Rorimer, James J. "The Glorification of Charles VIII." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 10 (June 1954). pp. 295–97.
Souchal, Geneviève, ed. Chefs-d'œuvre de la tapisserie du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Paris: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1973. no. 73, pp. 170–74.
Souchal, Geneviève, ed. Masterpieces of Tapestry from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974. no. 78, pp. 171–75.
Steppe, Jan Karel. "'De Overgang van het Mensdom van het Oude Verbond naar het Nieuwe,' een Brussels wandtapijt uit de 16e eeuw ontstaan onder invloed van de Lutherse ikonografie en prentkunst." De Gulden passer: Bulletin van de Vereeniging der Antwerpsche Bibliophielen 53 (1975). pp. 357,359.
Steppe, Jan Karel. "Inscriptions decoratives contenant des signatures et des mentions du lieu d'origine sur des tapisseries bruxelloises de la fin du XVe et du début du XVIe siècle." In Tapisseries bruxelloises de la pré-Renaissance. Brussels: Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, 1976. pp. 203–206, fig. 1,2.
Coffinet, Julien. Métamorphoses de la tapisserie. Paris: Bibliothèque des arts, 1977. pp. 88, 90–91.
Cavallo, Adolfo S. Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 15, pp. 13, 254–71.
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