Object details
Accession number
T24e5
Primary Creator
Rogier van der Weyden
(Tournai, about 1399 - about 1464, Brussels)
Full title
The Fulfillment of the Curse on Ahab
Creation Date
about 1460-1470
Description
Human figures
Provenance
The tapestry's lost cartoon was one of a series (telling either the Story of Ahab or several scenes from the Old Testament) possibly designed by the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden (about 1399-1464) and his workshop. Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the arms and armor dealers Bachereau, Paris for 30,000 francs in December 1897, through Fernand Robert, her regular agent in Paris.
Marks
Four early French inscriptions (in the Picard dialect) in Gothic letters across the top tell briefly the Biblical story from II Kings: 9-10. Inscribed (top left): Chy est co[ment] hieu [ochist] le roy [joram dedens] / le camp de [nabot]h et ly roy ocosias fut navret / a mort en fu[yant] et fut portet en jerusalem [Here is how Jehu [slew] king [Joram in] the field of [Nabot]h and king Ahaziah was wounded to death while f[leeing] and was carried to Jerusalem] Inscribed (top middle): Chy est coment jesabel la / roinne feme de acab fuit / trebuchiet de hault en bas de son palais [Here is how Jezebel the queen, wife of Ahab, was tumbled from top to bottom of her palace]OInscribed (top right): Chy est coment les / samaritains sacorderent / a hieu roy disrael [Here is how the Samaritans came to terms with Jehu king of Israel.]
Dimensions
363.2 x 462.3 cm (143 x 182 in.)
Display Media
Textile fibers
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Third Floor Stairhall and Stairway
Bibliography
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 24. (as "French Gothic Tapestry")
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 169. (as "Jezebel")
Morris Carter. "A Picture Puzzle for Sunday in a Gothic Tapestry." Boston Post. (Boston, 9 Oct. 1932). (as probably from Tournai, 1450-1460)
Ella S. Siple. "Une tapisserie inédite, à Boston." Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1934), pp. 65-66, ill. (as "Mort de Jézebel;" as attributed to Tournai, 1450-1475)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 196-97, pl. 11. (as "Jehu, Jezebel, and the Sons of Ahab;" Flemish, Tournai, probably 1450-1475)
Betty Chamberlain. “Tapestry Room” in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 35. (as "Death of Jezebel;" 15th century)
R.A. Weigert. French Tapestry (London, 1962), p. 63. (as possibly related to the Zaragoza Jephtha tapestries)
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 36 (5 May 1963), p. 2. (discusses the inscription)
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969), pp. 170-71, ill. (as Flemish, Tournai, 1450-1475)
Jean-Paul Asselberghs. Les tapisseries flamandes aux États-Unis d'Amérique (Brussels, 1974), p. 12. (as Tournai, 3rd quarter of the 15th century)
Donald King et al. "A Fifteenth Century Tapestry of The Story of Ahab." Fenway Court (1975), pp. 2-9, ills. 2, 5, 7-8. (as "The Story of Ahab;" Tournai, about 1460; designed by the designer of the Sand Salvador Jeptha tapestry)
Rollin van N. Hadley. Museums Discovered: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1981), pp. 146-47, ill. (as "The Fulfillment of the Curse on Ahab;" Flemish, Tournai or Arras, 1460-1470)
Nello Forti Grazzini. L'arazzo ferrarese (Milan, 1982), pp. 38-39, 216. (as possibly belonging to Borso d'Este, 1413-1471)
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), pp. 26-29, no. 2. (as Flemish, Tournai or Arras, about 1460-1470)
Jennifer R. Gross et al. Threads of Dissent. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1999), pp. 5, 7-8, ill. (as Flemish, about 1460-1470)
Stephen Campbell and Alan Chong. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2002), pp. 72, 74, fig. 26. (as Netherlandish, about 1460s)
Thomas P. Campbell (ed.). Tapestry in the Baroque: Art and Magnificence. Exh. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002), pp. 91-93, fig. 49. (as Southern Netherlands, about 1460-1470)
Lorne Campbell et al. Rogier van der Weyden, 1400-1464: Master of Passions. Exh. cat. (Leuven, Belgium: M - Museum Leuven, 2009), pp. 246-48, 272, fig. 128. (as "Rogierian in style," the cartoons made in Rogier's workshop)
Lorne Campbell. Rogier van der Weyden and Tapestry. Lecture for the Renaissance Society. (Warburg Institute, London, 14 May 2010), pp. 7-8, 17, ill. (as designed by Rogier van der Weyden)
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