About the Exhibition

The Embroidery from an Altar Frontal: Coronation of the Virgin (Italy, 1459) is astonishingly beautiful, achieved with some twenty colors of silk thread and extensive gold thread with only three types of stitches. Such textiles were not only used for decorating churches but also for splendid vestments featuring dazzling gold thread worn by the clergy, as in the velvet Chasuble with Embroidered Decoration (England and Italy, 1500-1520).
Embroidery from an Altar Frontal: Coronation of the Virgin Italy, Florence, possibly 1459 Silk, gold, silver and silk thread embroidery: split, satin, and couching stitches or nué (shaded gold) 22-3/4 x 22-3/4 inches The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1953.129		Velvet Chasuble with Embroidered Decoration England (embroidery) and Italy (velvet), 1500-1520 Embroidery: silk, gold thread, and sequins on velvet gold thread couched with silk on linen ground, or nué (shaded gold) Velvet: solid pile silk 48-1/4 x 29-1/2 inches The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Walter C. and Alvin W. Littwitz in memory of their father, Max Littwitz, 1947.2
Resplendent textiles enriched not only Christian churches but also religious paintings. Textiles were more labor-intensive, more expensive and more highly prized than paintings. Artists therefore often chose to feature prestigious textiles in their work, like Lorenzo da Sanseverinos (Italy, active 1468-1503) painting of the Virgin and Child, with Saints Anthony Abbott, Mark, Severino and Sebastian (1493) depicts the Virgin in a fashionably tailored dress with close-fitted sleeves made of luxurious velvet. Saint Sebastian wears an equally opulent velvet doublet under his sleeveless tunic. Also valued were the sheen and drape of fabrics as seen in Saint Marks plain, yellow silk cloak draped in sculptural folds which create the three-dimensional modeling of his kneeling position.			Lorenzo da Sanseverino (Italian, Umbria, active 14681503) Virgin and Child, with Saints Anthony Abbott, Mark, Severino and Sebastian Commissioned for the Church of San Marco, Sanseverino, 1493 Tempera on wood 56-11/16 x 33-1/4 x 1-15/16 inches The Cleveland Museum of Art, Holden Collection, 1916.800
Altar Frontal: Scenes from the Childhood of Christ France and South Netherlands, around 1500 Tapestry weave wool, silk and gold 43-0/16 x 92-0/16 inches The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of John L. Severance, 1942.826	Quality was cherished and the use of lustrous thread, good dyestuffs and sturdy fabrics along with beautiful designs were essential components of textiles. Some textiles were embroidered by hand with a needle and thread. Others were woven on a loom, either by hand for tapestry weave or by an automated pattern system on complex looms, called drawlooms, for brocaded silks and velvets. The tapestry-woven Altar Frontal: Scenes from the Childhood of Christ (French and South Netherlands, around 1500) features the Massacre of the Innocents, Flight into Egypt and Christ Among the Doctors. Tapestries were precious investments that could be portable and easily stored or displayed. The tapestry technique provides extensive artistic freedom.

Page 1 of 3 | On the next page: Interactive Elements