[Sidenote:
_Wool and Gold._
H. 5 _ft._ 5 _in._
W. 5 _ft._ 11 _in._
]
THE CHASE: _A man in a long dark-blue coat and high red hat and a lady
in a brown brocade dress and ermine turban watch a dog in leather armor
attack a bear. A landscape with trees and flowers is indicated without
perspective and a castle in simple outline is projected against a blue and
white striated sky._
[Sidenote: Exhibited:
_South Kensington Museum, French-English Retrospective Exhibition of
Textiles_, 1921.]
This tapestry is an important example of a small group of hunting scenes
of the early XVth century. It is closely related in style to the famous
pair of large hunting tapestries in the collection of the Duke of
Devonshire. It is not definitely known where any of these pieces were
woven, but Arras is taken as a safe assumption, as that was the center of
weaving at the time, and these tapestries are the finest production known
of the period.
The very simple figures sharply silhouetted against the contrasting
ground have a decidedly architectural quality, perfectly adapted to mural
decoration. Yet the scene seems very natural and the persons have marked
and attractive personalities.
[Sidenote: Illustrated:
_La Renaissance de l'Art français_, 1921, p. 104; _Burlington_, vol. 38,
opp. p. 171. _DeMotte, Les Tapisseries gothiques_, Deuxième Série.]
These exceedingly rare pieces mark the great wave of naturalism that
began sweeping over Europe about 1350 and they exemplify strikingly one
of the finest qualities of the primitive--the impressive universality and
objectivity that come from the freshness of the artist's vision. Looking
straight at the thing itself, free from all the presuppositions that
come from an inherited convention, the draftsman saw the essentials and
recorded them directly without any confusing elaboration of technique. He
was completely absorbed by the unsolved problems of the task, too occupied
with the difficulty of rendering the central outstanding features of the
scene to be diverted by personal affectations. His realization thus became
vivid and intimate, his rendition achieved a singularity and epic force
never again to be found in tapestry.
[Sidenote: Lent by _Demotte_.]
This is one of the few tapestries that have been improved by age. Time has
spread over it a slight gray bloom that seems to remove it from the actual
world, giving it the isolation that is so important a factor in æsthetic
effect; yet the depth and strength of the colors have not been weakened,
for we interpret the grayness as a fine veil through which the colors
shine with their original purity.
[Sidenote: 3]