Tapestry: Saint Paul Requesting Plautilla's Veil (possibly from a series of hangings illustrating the Life of Saint Paul)
Late 15th or early 16th century
Object Place: France or the Franco-Flemish Territories
Dimensions
121 x 173 cm (47 5/8 x 68 1/8 in.)
Accession Number
49.79
Medium or Technique
Tapestry weave (wool warp; wool wefts)
Not On View
Collections
Classifications
The subject is taken from the account of the life of Saint Paul in The Golden Legend. According to this story, Saint Paul met the Christian woman Plautilla at the Ostai gate as he was being conducted to Nero’s executioners. The woman wept and asked him to pray for her, in reply to which Saint Paul said, “Plautilla, my dear daughter, lend me the veil with which thy head is covered. I shall cover my eyes therewith, and then shou shalt take it back.”
Provenance
1928, Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co., Paris [see note 1]. Georges Haardt, New York. 1937, acquired on the New York art market by William de Krafft (b. 1878 - d. 1963), Heronden Hall, Tenterden, Kent, England and New York; January 28-29, 1949, anonymous (Krafft) sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 410, bought in by William de Krafft and given to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 10, 1949)
NOTES:
[1] They lent it to the "Exhibition Gothique de la Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins" (June, 1928), cat. no. 49.
Credit Line
Gift of William de Krafft