The Deposition

c. 1520

Five women and three men gather around the limp, nude body of a man being laid on a stone slab in this square tapestry. The people’s skin is pale, nearly ivory white. The torso of the dead man, Jesus, is being supported by two women, one of whom wraps her arms around his shoulders. The man has a brown beard and hair, and his eyes are slightly open. He has holes in the hand and foot we can see and a gash over his right ribs. A silvery blue cloth is between Jesus and the stone surface, where a copper-colored ointment jar sits with the lid off near the front right corner. The woman embracing him has a white head covering and lapis-blue and white dress. The other woman supporting his torso, to our right, wears a dress that shimmers between frosty lemon-lime green and cobalt blue. Her strawberry blond hair is braided, wrapped around her head, and ornamented with pearls. A third woman to our left bends over and touches Jesus’s far hand to her cheek. She and the others standing in a row behind this group wear robes in tones of slate blue, pale green, blue, and rose red, though some areas appear gray with damage or wear. Behind Jesus and these three women are two more women and three men. They all look on except one woman and man, who look at a chalice a man standing to the right holds. That man has a long gray beard and hair, and a pouch hangs at his waist. The man next to him holds a ring of thorns. The landscape beyond the group has trees with yellow-highlighted and blue-shaded trees and distant buildings and mountains under a blue sky. The scene is framed by an ornamental design of chubby, pale-skinned baby boys playing games amid fruit, flowers, and ribbons. Two boys at the top play with hobby horses. To the right, one child feeds another as a third plays with a stick and chest-high hoop. A boy blows bubbles in the lower right corner, and another plays a drum nearby. A boy with rings of bells wrapped under his knees runs toward the drummer. Two in the lower left corner have captured a bird, and another above them walks on stilts.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tapestry: undyed wool warp; spun silver, silver-gilt, and dyed silk and wool weft

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 225 x 228.5 cm (88 9/16 x 89 15/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.9.449


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably Jacopo Luis Francesco Pablo Rafael FitzJames-Stuart, 8th duke of Berwick and 15th duke (duque in Spanish) of Alba [1821-1881], Liria Palace, Madrid; (Alba sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7-20 April 1877, no. 1 under Italian tapestries, as Ferrarese 16th Century).[1] Baron d'Erlanger, Paris, by 1880.[2] Marsden Jasiel Perry [1850-1935], Providence, Rhode Island, by 1913;[3] sold to (French and Company, New York); inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, after purchase 1 November 1921 by funds of Joseph E. Widener;[4] gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] The owners were said to have bought in all but one tapestry at the sale, and hence even the NGA tapestry (for 15,000 francs); see Jules Guiffrey, Histoire de la tapisserie, depuis le Moyen Age jusqu'à nos jours, Tours, 1886: 492. However, an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the NGA Library indicates the tapestry was purchased by French and Company; see copy in NGA curatorial files.
[2] The tapestry was lent by him to the Exposition nationale belge in Brussels in 1880.
[3] Wilhelm R. Valentiner, "Tapestries from Designs by Bernaert von Orley," Art in America (January 1913): 57.
[4] Edith A. Standen, Widener curator, note in Widener collection cards in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1880

  • L'Exposition nationale belge, Ancien Champ des Manoeuvres, Brussels, 1880, no. 84.

1888

  • Exposition rétrospective d'art industriel, Musée royal armures et antiquités, Brussels, 1888, no. 3002 (catalogue by Canon Reusens).

2019

  • Bernard van Orley: Brussels and the Renaissance, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 2019, no. 20, repro.

Bibliography

1935

  • Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 122.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 34, color repro. 35.

1990

  • Ainsworth, Maryan Wynn. "Bernart van Orley, Peintre-Inventeur." Studies in the History of Art 24 (1990):plate 1, 43-49.

Wikidata ID

Q62268435


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