id:			149376
accession number:	1978.36
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1978.36
updated:		2023-04-23 11:15:57.430000

Scenes of the Life of the Virgin, from an Altar Frontal, 1330s or 1340s. Italy, Florence, 14th century. Silk, gold thread, linen; raised work, embroidery: split, stem, running, fishbone, and couching stitches; overall: 16.8 x 127 cm (6 5/8 x 50 in.); mounted: 27.9 x 137.2 cm (11 x 54 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1978.36

title:				Scenes of the Life of the Virgin, from an Altar Frontal
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1330s or 1340s
creation date earliest:		1330
creation date latest:		1349
current location:		
creditline:			Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Italy, Florence, 14th century
technique:	Silk, gold thread, linen; raised work, embroidery: split, stem, running, fishbone, and couching stitches
department:	Textiles
collection:	T - Ecclesiastical
type:		Embroidery
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 16.8 x 127 cm (6 5/8 x 50 in.); Mounted: 27.9 x 137.2 cm (11 x 54 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review: 1978
	opening date:   1979-02-13T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review: 1978</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).

	title:		Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages
	opening date:   1985-01-22T05:00:00
	<i>Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 22-March 17, 1985).

	title:		Draped in Splendor: Renaissance Textiles and the Church
	opening date:   2003-09-07T00:00:00
	<i>Draped in Splendor: Renaissance Textiles and the Church</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7, 2003-September 26, 2004).

	title:		Only for Beauty? (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115
	opening date:   2014-12-08T05:00:00
	<i>Only for Beauty? (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 2014-December 7, 2015).

	title:		Art of Embroidery in Late Medieval Europe (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115
	opening date:   2020-12-19T05:00:00
	<i>Art of Embroidery in Late Medieval Europe (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 2020-April 11, 2021).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Robert von Hirsch, Basel; The Robert von Hirsch Collection, Sotheby's, London, June 22, 1978, lot 266.
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
This rare panel originally hung above a large embroidery that decorated the front of an altar in a church. The narrative begins with the Virgin’s parents and her early life; that panel is now in the Toledo Museum of Art. Cleveland’s portion continues the story with the Annunciation of the Virgin, Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Christ, Christ among the Doctors, and the Assumption of the Virgin. The Death of the Virgin scene is likely missing. Painters usually sketched designs on stretched linen for embroiderers. Gold thread enriches the background and is secured in place with couching stitches in a small brick pattern.
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RELATED WORKS

	id: 		None
	None
	relationship: 	

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CITATIONS

	Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Six Works from Von Hirsch Collection,” August 1, 1978, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
	page number: 	
	url:		https://archive.org/details/cmapr2569

	Wardwell, Anne E. "A Rare Florentine Embroidery of the Fourteenth Century." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 66, no. 9 (1979): 322-33.
	page number: 	p. 322-33
	url:		www.jstor.org/stable/25159650

	Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. 1980. “Recent Major Acquisitions of Medieval Art by American Museums.” <em>Gesta</em> 19 (1): 67–77.
	page number: 	p. 75, fig. 27
	url:		

	Martin Nagy, Rebecca. Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985.
	page number: 	p. 22-23, 58
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_full.tif