designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1732–39, Rome

designed ca. 1689–93, woven 1732–39, Rome

Identifier
92.1.15
Transfer of custody
Victoria and Albert Museum
Acquisition
Bequest of Elizabeth U. Coles, in memory of her son, William F. Coles, 1892
Collection
Material
Technique
Depiction
Production time
Production place
Type of object

Description

Commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a great-nephew of Pope Alexander VIII, this was part of a massive series, heroic in scale as well as narrative, of fifteen tapestries depicting the romanticized version of the Christians’ First Crusade into Jerusalem recounted in Tasso’s sixteenth-century epic poem, Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered).As the crusaders reach the city of Jerusalem, two of the Christian leaders kneel in the foreground, both in Classical armor with garments of red, blue and yellow. The younger man is presumably Godfrey of Bouillon. Other mounted men in gray armor are seen behind. Rising in the background on the right are the walls of Jerusalem.