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Social Sharing
Verdure with Peasant Dance
Not on view
A tapestry is called a verdure when its main subject is the greenwork of nature: landscapes, forests, leaves, and fruit. Animals, hunters, and mythological beings are the usual additions to the verdure; a genre scene is somewhat unexpected. This panel is divided visually into two triangles. The left is filled with the rich disorder of a dense thicket of greenery. Foxgloves bend above two large-scale rabbits in the foreground. Vines, heavy with grape clusters, encircle the trunk of an oak. The right upper portion of the tapestry shows villagers dancing in a clearing bordered by steep-roofed houses, with the village church visible at the right edge. The couples perform different figures of a dance to music supplied by an instrument that seems to be a kind of bagpipe. The border is closely related to those that surround The Story of Jacob and The Story of Moses panels in the FAMSF collection. Two narrow bands of pale blue ribbons intertwine on a red ground. Between them, fruit, flowers, and mythological figures are connected by a red grillwork. The top border, as in the Moses and the Jacob panels, is narrower than the other three. Female figures on miniature triumphal chariots anchor the corners, and a female figure with a curved horn (Fame?) marks the midpoint of the lower border. The grill ascends vertically from the chariots, holding masses of fruit and flowers, and imprisoning slim standing figures high on each side. These hold up ribbons with pendant fruit garlands. From Anna Gray Bennett, "Five Centuries of Tapestry: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco" (San Francisco: Chronicle Books; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1976; repr. 1992): p. 128.
- Title
- Verdure with Peasant Dance
- Date
- 1550-1575
- Object Type
- Fiber art
- Medium
- wool, silk; tapestry weave
- Dimensions
- 122 x 110 in. (309.9 x 279.4 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Louis Sloss
- Accession Number
- 1953.30