This roundel, together with three others in the Lehman Collection (1975.1.1906, 1975.1.1907, and 1975.1.1909), and two in The Cloisters Collection (47.101.63 and 47.101.64), form part of the same series of early fifteenth-century Franco-Flemish embroideries depicting scenes from the life of Saint Martin. Originally part of a much larger ensemble (thirty-six roundels and panels are now dispersed among public and private collections), the embroideries may have decorated a liturgical vestment, an altar frontal, or possibly a combination thereof, constituting a set of vestments. Having left the Roman army, Martin devoted himself to religious life and became a disciple of Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers in France. Saint Martin is portrayed kneeling before the Bishop, who is ordaining him as acolyte. This series of embroideries, if not originally intended for a liturgical garment, may have embellished an altar frontal, similar to the blue covering that appears here on the altar behind the kneeling figure of Martin. The upper portion of the altar, adorned by a Crucifixion scene, may have been conceived as a painted or embroidered altar covering.

This tapestry illustrates the legend of Veronica’s veil, an episode from a twelfth-century French epic poem, La Vengeance de Nostre Seigneur (The Vengeance of Our Lord), an amalgam of apocryphal sources from the first century which tell of the Roman Emperor Vespasian’s campaigns in Jerusalem. The poem was popularized in the fourteenth century as the subject of mystery plays. Portrayed at center, Veronica has been brought to the Emperor Vespasian, who kneels before her, in order to cure him of his illness. Veronica holds the cloth with which she had wiped perspiration from Christ’s face as he carried the cross on the road to Calvary. Christ’s image was transferred to the cloth along with his miraculous healing powers. Undoubtedly woven by the finest weavers, it is remarkable that this tapestry escaped the French Revolution when a vast number of tapestries containing gilt or silvered threads were melted down and destroyed.

1551 / 1600, Italy

1551 / 1600, Italy