Apocalypse Tapestry
| The Apocalypse Tapestry | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Jean Bondol and Nicholas Bataille |
| Year | 1377–1382 |
| Type | Tapestry |
| Location | Musée de la Tapisserie, Château d'Angers, Angers |
The Apocalypse Tapestry is a large medieval French set of tapestries commissioned by Louis I, the Duke of Anjou, and produced between 1377 and 1382. It depicts the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine in colourful images, spread over a number of sections that originally totalled 90 scenes. Despite being lost and mistreated in the late 18th century, the tapestry was recovered and restored in the 19th century and is now on display at the Chateau d'Angers. It is the oldest French medieval tapestry to have survived, and historian Jean Mesqui considers it "one of the great artistic interpretations of the revelation of Saint John, and one of the masterpieces of French cultural heritage".
The Apocalypse Tapestry was commissioned by Louis I, the Duke of Anjou in the late 1370s. Louis instructed Jean Bondol, a Flemish artist, to draw the sketches that would form the model for the tapestry, which was then woven in Paris between 1377 and 1380 by Nicholas Bataille. The tapestry was probably finally complete by 1382. It was unusual for a tapestry to be commissioned by a buyer to a specific design in this way. It is uncertain how Louis used the tapestry; it was probably intended to be displayed outside, supported by six wooden structures, possibly arranged so as to position the viewer near to the centre of the display, imitating a jousting field. The tapestry and its theme would have also helped to bolster the status of Louis's Valois dynasty, then involved in the Hundred Years' War with England.
The tapestry shows the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine. In the 14th century, the Apocalypse was a popular story, focusing on the heroic aspects of the last confrontation between good and evil and featuring battle scenes between angels and beasts. Although many of the scenes in the story included destruction and death, the account ended with the triumphant success of good, forming an uplifting story. Various versions of the Apocalypse story, or cycle, were circulating in Europe at the time and Louis chose to use an Anglo-French Gothic style of the cycle, partially derived from a manuscript he borrowed from his brother, Charles V of France, in 1373. This version of the Apocalypse had first been recorded in Metz and then later adapted by English artists; Charles' manuscript had been produced in England around 1250. Louis may also have been influenced by a particularly grand tapestry given to Charles by the magistrates of Lille in 1367.
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