The only surviving embroidered altarpiece from Spain, this sumptuous work re-creates the characteristic elements of a painted retable from the Spanish kingdom of Castile. They include the base, or banco, with the Resurrection at its center, and a cult image of the enthroned Virgin and Child crowned by a small scene of the Crucifixion. In the wide fame, angels’ heads alternate with the owner’s arms, mimicking the dust guard or guardapolvos typical of painted altarpieces. Pedro de Montoya, the owner, was the active and worldly bishop of the diocese of Osma; he no doubt appreciated both the portability and rich surface offered by the embroidery.
The Abegg-Stiftung, a private foundation in Riggisberg, Switzerland, generously undertook the altarpiece’s conservation as a gift in 2016.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Linen plain weave ground appliquéd with linen and silk plain weaves and silk velvet; embroidered with silk floss and creped threads, gilt- and-silvered-metal-strip-wrapped silk threads, seed pearls and metal spangles
Inscriptions
Inscriptions: upper: "O Homo Recordare Quia Pro Te ISH Hec Tormenta Pasvs Est" (Remeber, O Man, that Christ suffered these pains for Thee)
lower (possibly): "Resvrexit Dominvs Ivstvs Vere et Aparivit Simoni" (The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon)
Bishops coat of arms
Gift of Mrs. Chauncey McCormick and Mrs. Richard Ely Danielson
Reference Number
1927.1779a-b
IIIF Manifest
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Juan Cabré y Aguilô. “El retablo bordado, de Don Pedro de Montoya, Obispo de Osma.” Archivo espanol de arte y arguelogia. Vol. 5, pp. 1-20.
“Cathedral del Burgo de Osma”. Boletin de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones. Augosto-Octubre de 1903, pp. 22, 170-2, nums. 126-128.
The Art Institute of Chicago. Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago. Vol. XXXIV, no. 1 (January 1940). p. 5 (illus.).
Ruth Groenwoldt. “Florentiner Stickereien in den Inventaren des Herzogs von Berry und der Herzoege von Burgund.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz. Vol 10, Heft 1 (May 1961).
Mildred Davison “An Altarpiece from Burgo de Osma,” Museum Studies 3. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1968. pp. 108-124 (ills.).
Christa Charlotte Mayer. Masterpieces of Western Textiles from The Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1969. Plate 98, p. 128.
Virginia Churchill Bath. Embroidery Masterworks: Classic Patterns and Techniques for Contemporary Application (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1972), pp. 19-27.
“Little Known Treasures of The Art Institute of Chicago”. Chicago Magazine (May 1979).
Leonie von Wilckens. Die textilen Künste: von der Spätantike bis um 1500. (München: C.H. Beck, 1991),
pp. 254-5.
Christa C. Mayer Thurman. Textiles in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), pp. 27, 28-9 (illus.), 144.
The Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), pp. 226-7.
“Spiritual Expressions: Art for Private Contemplation and Public Celebration”. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1995-96.
The Art Institute of Chicago. “Devotion and Splendor: Medieval Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.” Museum Studies. vol. 30, no. 2. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004. no. 48.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Deering Family Galleries, Gallery 237, March 17, 2017–Present.
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