Scenes from the Life of the Virgin

Unknown

ca. 1500 · Linen warp; wool, linen, silk, silver, and gilt wefts; wool pile yarns · The Cloisters

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the focus of intense veneration in the late Middle Ages. Possibly created as an altar frontal, this hanging depicts scenes from her life: her Birth, the Annunciation, the Visitation with her cousin Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist), the Nativity of Jesus, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, and her Coronation by the Trinity. At the top, two angels hold the vera icon, an image of the imprint of Christ’s face believed to have been miraculously imprinted on the veil of Saint Veronica as Jesus was led to his Crucifixion.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1500

Medium

Linen warp; wool, linen, silk, silver, and gilt wefts; wool pile yarns

Culture

Upper Rhenish

Department

The Cloisters

Credit line

Gift of Charles F. Iklé, 1957