Each of the fifteen compartments in this tapestry contains a single scene representing an article of the Apostles’ Creed, a set of declarations of Christian belief dating back to the fourth century. One of few surviving tapestries to depict this subject, this piece is unique for its inclusion of every article in a single hanging, without any accompanying inscriptions. The straightforward, even provincial design of the compositions makes them easily legible, unfolding like a comic strip from top to bottom. The series opens with God creating heaven and earth and ends with an image of everlasting life. Within the context of the church, such tapestries offered visual lessons that would have been used in religious instruction.
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Apostles Creed
Date:ca. 1550–1600
Culture:European
Medium:Wool warp, wool wefts
Dimensions:11 ft. 11 1/2 in. × 15 ft. 10 in. (364.5 × 482.6 cm)
Classification:Textiles-Tapestries
Credit Line:Gift of The Hearst Foundation, 1960
Object Number:60.182
Said to have come from a church near Barcelona, date unknown; Marqués de Sambola, Gerona; Jacques Seligmann, Paris and New York (Paris, by 1912); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (May 1912–1916); [ Duveen Brothers, New York (sold 1925)]; William Randolph Hearst (American), New York (in 1925)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Hearst, the Collector," November 16, 2008–March 1, 2009.
Ricci, Seymour de, ed. Description d'une série de tapisseries gothiques appartenant à M. J. Pierpont Morgan. Exposées au bénéfice de la Société des Amis du Louvre à la Galerie J. Seligmann. Paris: Jacques Seligmann & Co., 1912. no. XII, pp. 48–57.
Guide to the Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1914. pp. 10–11.
An Exhibition of Gothic Tapestries of France and Flanders. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1920. no. 12, [unpaginated].
"'Additions to the Collections,' Ninety-First Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1960-1961." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20, no. 2 (October 1961). p. 68.
Forsyth, William Holmes. "A 'Credo' Tapestry : A Pictorial Interpretation of the Apostles' Creed." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 21, no. 7 (March 1963). pp. 240–251, fig. 1,3–9,11–12, (fig. no. cont.) 14-17, 19-20.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 113, pp. 238–239, 262.
Cavallo, Adolfo S. Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 53, pp. 13, 15, 608–16.
Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst, the Collector. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2008. no. 35, p. 44, fig. 2.2.
Levkoff, Mary. "Hearst and Spain." In Collecting Spanish Art: Spain's Golden Age and America's Gilded Age. New York: The Frick Collection, 2012. p. 184.
Franco Mata, Ángela. El Greco y la iconografía religiosa. Madrid, 2014. p. 22, fig. 11, 13.
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