This tapestry represents the Washing of the Feet and it was created in Brussels between 1511 and 1528 in the shop owned by Pieter van Edinghen, aka van Aelst, the most renowned tapestry weaver of the time. He is the weaver that pope Leo X called in to create the tapestries for the Sistine chapel, woven based on the cartoons drawn by Raphael.
It belongs to the famous cycle of the stories from the Passion of Christ which was purchased in 1531 in Antwerp by the Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles (1514-1539) to decorate the chamber of the upper Torrione in the Castello del Buonconsiglio residence. On the occasion of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), these tapestries preciously embellished the hall in which the solemn sessions were held, set up in the choir of the San Vigilio cathedral.
The cycle, that the critics have defined as "extraordinary and perhaps the only one of its kind in Italy", belongs to the pré-Renaissance style that features the matching of elements of the Flemish Gothic tradition with the new trends of the Italian Renaissance. Typical of the Late Gothic taste is the crowding of the figures, the abundance of rare and precious details, the focus on the minute realism of the flowers. The decorative elements typical of the Renaissance are the small posts decorated in candelabra-style, the musician putti, the mascarons and the garlands.
The smallest tapestry, depicting Saint John in Patmos, once again attributed to the shop of Pieter van Aelst, is an isolated piece, dating back to the third decade of the 16th century. Bernardo Cles had it placed in the library room of the bishop’s residence.
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