Tapestries

The second object that entered the newly formed MFA collection in 1871 was a 17th-century Flemish tapestry called Victory. In the hundred years that followed, the MFA’s tapestry collection added masterworks such as The First Four Articles of the Creed and Penelope at Her Loom, reflecting a strong focus on late-medieval French and Flemish tapestries. Other important acquisitions included Wild Men and Moors, an extraordinary choir tapestry attributed to Germany in late 15th century, and the charming Narcissus, made in Flanders or France around 1500. The MFA added outstanding examples of 16th- and 17th- century Brussels tapestry production as well as high style works from the famed Gobelin and Beauvais manufactories in France. A particular strength of the collection is its Peruvian tapestries from the colonial period, which were gifts of early MFA benefactor Denman Waldo Ross. In more recent decades, the MFA has actively sought to document the revival of tapestry weaving in the late 19th and 20th centuries, acquiring the exceptional Greenery tapestry, designed in 1892 by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co., and Fanfares and Le Sanglier, by post-war French artist Jean Lurçat. The MFA’s tapestry collection is now considered one of the best in the world.