[Sidenote:
_Wool and Silk._
No. 17:
H. 11 _ft._ 10 _in._
W. 17 _ft._ 6 _in._
No. 18:
H. 11 _ft._ 7 _in._
W. 7 _ft._ 5 _in._
No. 19:
H. 12 _ft._
W. 26 _ft._
]
THREE PIECES FROM A SERIES ILLUSTRATING THE CREED: _In the first piece_
(_No._ 17) _four scenes from the Life of Christ are portrayed: the
Adoration of the Kings_, _the Presentation at the Temple_, _the meeting
of Christ and John_, _and Christ among the Doctors_. _In the corner sits
a prophet, probably David. The piece undoubtedly began with the Nativity,
at the left, and possibly the Annunciation, with the Apostle Andrew in the
other corner. This would indicate that the piece was the second in the
series, the first probably having been the Creation of the Earth, with
Peter and Jeremiah._
_The second piece_ (_No._ 18) _shows the Circumcision and the Assumption
of the Virgin_, _and evidently included at least one more scene at the
right_.
[Sidenote: _The Last Judgment_ was formerly in the Evora Palace, Portugal,
and is illustrated from the Louvre example in _Migeon, Les Arts de Tissu_,
p. 220; in part, in _E. Mâle, L'Art religieux de la fin du Moyen Age en
France_, p. 501; _Burlington_, vol. 20, p. 9; _Figaro Illustré_, 1911.]
_The third piece_ (_No._ 19) _shows the full scene of the Last Judgment
with a personage who seems to be Philip in one corner and in the other
Zephaniah_. _The piece is complete except, possibly, for a border. A
tapestry from the same cartoon with a narrow border of flowers is in
the Louvre. Christ, enthroned, is surrounded by the Virgin, Saint John,
and the eleven Apostles. Angels, bearing instruments of the Passion and
sounding trumpets flutter through the sky. At the right of the throne
angels come bearing crowns for the elect. Below the dead are rising from
the graves. Before the throne of Christ Justice bearing a sword and Pity
bearing a lily come to punish the Seven Deadly Sins, Pride, Avarice,
Luxury, Greed, Anger, Envy, and Laziness, an episode adopted from the
Mystery Plays. On the border of the robe of the Virgin appear the letters
WOL and on the border of the robe of the last Apostle at Christ's left the
letters RIM DACI BAPTISTA ORADI._
[Sidenote: _The Circumcision and Assumption_ is illustrated in _Demotte,
Les Tapisseries gothiques_, Première Série, pl. 39.]
Seven other large tapestries very closely related to these are known.
They represent various episodes involving Christ and numerous allegorical
figures that have not been identified. Three of these are in the
collection of Baron de Zuylen du Nyevelt de Haar, two in the Burgos
Cathedral, and two others have passed into private collections and been
lost sight of.[15] Another smaller piece, apparently of the same series,
was number X in the Morgan Collection. Three duplicates are also in
Hampton Court.
The series is closely related also to the _Life of the Virgin_ set in the
Royal Collection at Madrid, and also the _Presentation in the Temple_
of the Martin le Roy Collection. The cartoons are clearly the work of
Maître Philippe, and the weaving was evidently done in Flanders, probably
in Brussels, about 1510. Marquet de Vasselot suggests that the cartoons
of the Martin le Roy piece and of the Madrid series were done after a
second master under the influence of Gerard David.[16] Destrée, following
Wauters, suggests Jean de Bruxelles, known author of the cartoon for the
_Communion of Herkenbald_, another Maître Philippe piece, to which he
sees a resemblance,[17] and Thièry repeats the claim, but on far-fetched
evidence.[18]
Certainly the types are very close to those of Gerard David. Some of the
figures on David's _Tree of Mary_ in the Lyons Museum[19] are repeated
almost exactly, and some of the female figures are very like the Saint
in the _Marriage of Catherine_ in the San Luca Academy at Rome.[20] But
other types, such as Zacharias in the meeting of Christ and John, are more
reminiscent of Hugo Van der Goes, being, for instance, almost identical
with Joseph of Arimathea in the _Descent from the Cross_ in the National
Museum, Naples,[21] even to such details as the drawing and placing of the
ear. The glimpses of landscapes, too, are clearly derived from Hugo in
their composition and details, and even the floreations are close to those
in some of Hugo's work, notably the _Original Sin_ in the Imperial Gallery
of Vienna,[22] where one finds the same upspringing sheaf of iris. The
work would seem to be that of a lesser eclectic, such as the author of the
_Life of Mary_ in the Bishops' Palace at Evora.
[Sidenote: Lent by _Demotte_.]
In all the pieces there are intense sincerity and real grandeur of design.
The _Last Judgment_, in the musical swinging together of the draperies,
the perfect control of the great composition, and in the fine development
of the dominance of Christ without sacrifice of the minor episodes, as
well as in the power of expression of the thrilling solemnity of the
moment, deserves to rank with the greatest interpretations of the subject.
[Sidenote: 20]