Numerous iconographic sources come from the Biblia pauperum (Paupers’ Bible), a collection of biblical images, annotated in vernacular language, which was very popular at the end of the Middle Ages. Such volumes are generally composed of 40 to 50 pages. Each page is structured in the same way – by illustrating a scene from the life of Christ taken from the New Testament, which is then linked to two episodes from the Old Testament. These Bibles were aimed at a clerical audience. Through their clear and uniform structure, these edifying images were meant to help priests prepare their sermons.

 

The term “paupers” was only used in later years and is probably referring to those who are “poor in spirit” (“The prideful seek earthly power, whereas the poor in spirit seeks the Kingdom of Heaven” – Saint Augustine). The books were probably not aimed at those who were “economically poor”, as the cost of such a Bible would have remained high. The Paupers’ Bibles differed from a Bible moralisée (moralising Bible) through their size, form and audience: they were much shorter, and centred on image rather than text. Bibles moralisées, more refined and expensive, were aimed at the aristocracy. They were illuminated manuscripts of Bible verses in Latin, featuring a commentary of moral lessons with miniatures illustrating each extract.

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7. This splendid Last Supper is one of a group of four tapestries based on tapestry cartoons by Bernaert van Orley, one of the leading lights of the 16th century Brussels school. The artist was adept at blending Nordic traditions and Italian spirit. He brought together the emotional charge and close detail of Albrecht Dürer’s wood carving of the Last Supper (Dürer also inspired the composition) and the monumental figures and spatial construction which characterise Raphael. Doubtless he took much inspiration from the latter’s sketches for The Acts of the Apostles, a series of tapestries destined for the Sistine Chapel, which were sent to a tapestry-maker in Brussels (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

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BACCHUS REPRESENTS AUTUMN

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8. The third of a series of four tapestries illustrating the life of man divided into twelve six-year periods, this tapestry shows Bacchus at the centre, representing the ‘autumn years’. July, August and September represent the ages 36 to 54. The stories show the centaur Chiron teaching medicine to the young Aesculapius; Joseph directing the gathering of the harvest in anticipation of the lean years to come; and Hercules gathering the golden apples of the Hesperides, the last of his twelve labors (Source The Metropolitan).

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SEPTEMBER, MONTH OF HARVESTS

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9. This tapestry belongs to The Months Series, designed for presentation in a single room in the style of a continuous frieze. Devoted to the month of September, the zodiac signs Scorpio and Libra are depicted within a tondo (a circular motif) in the upper right-hand corner. The personification of the month is a young nude man shown pointing to the sun at the top right, with vine leaves around his waist and head. The pedestal on which he is standing displays the verse for the month: “September ferments the grapes and prepares the wine, gives grateful pleasures to the bird and gathers the best of every month”. This allegorical figure can be interpreted as an image of Bacchus, but may also be a more general allegory of Autumn, inspired by the iconography of late Antiquity. Behind him, four peasants operate the “arm” of a large wine press, while everyone around them carries out different tasks tied to the harvest.

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10. This tapestry shows the stages of wine production, from the picking of the grapes to the pressing and first tasting.

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GLUTTONY: A CAPITAL SIN

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11. The Seven Capital Sins series intends to show a spectacular procession of sinners over seven tapestries. Each piece is dedicated to a single capital sin. The capital sins, or “vices”, are “head” sins (capita). They are not the most serious, but they lead to others. Their nomenclature was systematised in the 13th century by Saint Thomas Aquinas. They are: pride, gluttony (or addiction), sloth (or acedia, linked to sadness of spirit), lust, avarice, anger and envy.

 
In the modern sense, gourmandise is hardly a negative word. Gluttony differs from gourmandise in that it implies excess and lack of regard. In this tapestry, gluttony has wings and vine leaves in her hair; she is seated in a cart pulled by harpies*, following the gluttons Cleopatra, Alexander the Great and Silenus, with a young Bacchus leading the way.

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*  Harpies are gods of devastation and divine vengeance. They are faster than the wind and invulnerable; cackling, they devour everything in their path, leaving only their excrement behind. Some authors give them the faces of women or girls and the talons of birds of prey.

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LES AMOURS DE GOMBAULT ET MACÉ, LA NOCE SE PRÉPARE

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12. Gombault accueille Macé, sa fiancée, accompagnée par son père qui a la dote dans sa bourse. Il est très richement habillé d'une chamarre brodée, des fleurs à son chapeau. Son témoin apporte une aiguière à vin richement décorée et porte les mêmes fleurs à son chapeau indiquant par là, comme pour les servantes, son appartenance à la famille de Gombault. Il est dit que cette tapisserie représente le mariage de Charles VIII et de la Duchesse Anne de Bretagne (en 1491)*. Cette affirmation s'appuie sur deux faits : Macé porte une couronne et les costumes portés par les mariés sont plus élégants et plus raffinés que les costumes portés à cette époque par les bergers et les bergères.

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* A Langeais, près de Tours.

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THE JOYFUL COMPANY: A FAVORITE SUBJECT IN 17TH-CENTURY HOLLAND

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13. In the 17th century, the role of wine in seduction was a popular subject for many Dutch painters. Dirck Hals, Gerrit Van Honthorst and Jan Steen all represent the association between wine and love. Such is the approach of the weavers of this tapestry. Such images are also used to celebrate the senses (a popular theme in Classical art), which are represented by this scene of a joyful company. If wine and the grape represent the sense of taste, the sense of sight is shown through the fleeting glance shared by the lovers.

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For Dutch artists, the notion of Joyful Company signifies a small group of people shown enjoying themselves; they are generally seated, drinking and often playing music too. Such scenes were very common during the “golden age” in Holland, the 17th century. Some estimate that almost two-thirds of Dutch genre scenes depict people drinking. These gatherings range from “quality” groups in refined interiors or gardens (such scenes might be titled Elegant Company or Gallant Company) to groups of drunken men and women in taverns, often in the company of prostitutes. Joyful Company artworks can put across a very clear moral message about excess – whether too much drink, lavish spending, fornication… Others simply want to celebrate the pleasures of social life. Many pieces fall somewhere between the two extremes and are hard to interpret, “containing within them a clear contradiction between their objective of condemning certain types of excess and the amusing, attractive aspects of such behaviours and their depiction.”

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Find out more: Gallery Seduction and Love  >>

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BACCHUS CELEBRATES THE SUN KING

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14. In the 17th century, representations of the four seasons were popular in royal palaces because the transition between the seasons was guided by the sun, which Louis XIV had adopted as an emblem. In line with contemporary tastes, each season is represented by an episode from mythology. As the harvests took place in September, Bacchus often stood for autumn – also represented by the harvest baskets and, as is the case here, Diana, goddess of the hunt. In this tapestry, Bacchus and Diana are shown sitting on clouds; they hold a floral frame containing a portrait of Louis XIV hunting a deer on horseback. The castle of Saint-Germain is shown in the background; in the foreground, several objects illustrate the autumn season. A ring of laurel leaves makes up the horizontal part of the border; the vertical borders contain a flower and fruits motif, interrupted halfway by the heraldic arms of France and Navarre (source: base Joconde).

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A VERY DIPLOMATIC BANQUET

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15. Syphax was a king of the ancient Numidian Masaesyli tribe during the last quarter of the 3rd century BC. During the second Punic War, he initially allied himself to the Romans, thereby opposing Gaia, king of Eastern Numidia, and his son Massinissa, who were on the Carthaginian side. In his 28th book, Livy reports that Scipion the African, coming from Carthage, was surprised to meet at the Numidian prince Syphax’s court Hasdrubal Gisco, who had pulled out of Spain before the Romans arrived. Deadly enemies, both were hoping to ally themselves to Syphax. As there was no chance of bringing the pair to the negotiation table, Syphax invited them both to a banquet (206BC). 

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A COCKEREL TREADS THE GRAPES

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16. For the inauguration of the Beaune wine museum in 1949, the town commissioned a tapestry by Jean Lurçat. “This tapestry conveys the style of Lurçat, which is exuberant and lively,” explains Laure Ménétrier, chief of the region’s museums. “It shows us a fantasy world, brimming with detail. The artist explores eternal life through nature… A cockerel makes an appearance, as in many of Jean Lurçat’s tapestries. Here, it is shown treading red grapes.” (source: Bien Public).

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​"Feet in the air and head upside-down, a skeleton breathes in alcohol fumes, which transform him into foliage. He regains life by making himself drunk on light from a sun whose every ray leads to a bottle of wine. In the centre, a troubadour plays the lute – or is it Aesop? He has an owl on his head, a symbol of wisdom. To the right, a cockerel treads grapes in a basin full of holes, through which the wine spurts and reaches the head, heart and genitals of a man lying there. Musical partitions and poetic texts are scattered here and there; references to mythology (Bacchus) and the Bible (Adam and Eve) mix joyfully in this dreamlike universe. Lurçat’s sparkling, flamboyant world features some recurring figures: the sun, of course; the butterflies, the owl and the cockerel; not to mention fantasy animals borrowed from the medieval repertoire." (Source : La Tribune de l'art").

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​The cockerel allows Lurçat to experiment with a wide range of colors. "No, no, it’s not a mania. Familiar themes always have hidden meanings, concealing obligations or obsessions. That said, I have always been seduced by the virility and life that shines out from this animal, whose ambition is to wake humans, to make the sun rise, to herald the break of day, and…isn’t that enough to inspire a painter? Day, life, action…” (Jean Lurçat, lettre à un ami, février, 1956).