br>Saint Stephen's Tapestry, Piece 9

Saint Stephen's
Tapestry 
Brussels ca. 1500
Wool and silk
Piece shown: Saint Stephen 
with the Jewish 
doctors
H. 1.68 m; W. 3.59 m 
Auxerre Cathedral, then its 
hospices
CL. 9930-9938 ; 20200-20201

This magnificent tapestry was made for the choir of Auxerre Cathedral. 45 metres long with all its 12 pieces, it was woven with silk and wool in the 1500s, as commissioned by bishop John III Baillet, whose arms are seen here. Commissioned at the end of the Middle Ages, Saint Stephen's tapestry tells the life of Christianity's first martyr, the discovery of his corpse three centuries later, and its epic move to Rome, in 23 episodes. The artist alternated between landscape and indoor scenes, separating them with columns of an architectural or botanical nature. The drop wirer took care to highlight shadow and light by teasing the fibres. Thus volume takes shape in space.