The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Time (From Chateau de Chaumont Set)

Time (From Chateau de Chaumont Set)

1512–15
Overall: 326.6 x 434.1 cm (128 9/16 x 170 7/8 in.)

Description

Pierre Sala, who likely commissioned the set, is portrayed as the richly attired central figure offering a bouquet, a symbol of knowledge, to Éléonore, his daughter. Éléonore is pregnant, revealed by her upturned skirt and the persimmon in her husband Hector’s hand. Hector’s mother, Marguerite, in dark attire, will wed the widowed Sala in 1519. They appear in front of the royal chateau of Blois. The figures at the right convey Sala’s advice to his children. Time (the old man with the staff) with Clio, the Muse of History, standing on his shoulders, is being attacked by a Herculean youth wielding a stick. With this allegory, Sala is explaining that youth is ignorant of the complexities of life and time. The small unicorn at the far right represents the soul. The verse in Old French at the top refers to changing time: One sees Time adorned with green foliage, Sometimes as pleasant as an angel, Then suddenly change and become quite strange. Never does Time persist in one state.
  • -1907
    one of set of three allegorical tapestries from the Chateau de Chaumont, Chaumont-sur-Loire, France until 1907
    1925
    (Duveen Collection, New York, NY, sold to Clarence H. MacKay)
    Clarence H. MacKay [1874-1938] New York, NY
    1939-1960
    (French & Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1960-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Shepherd, Dorothy G. "Three Tapestries from Chaumont." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 7 (1961): 159-77 p. 159-177 25142461
    Saisselin, Remy G. "Literary Background of the Chaumont Tapestries." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 7 (1961). p. 178-181 25142462
    Wixom, William D., and Leona E. Prasse. "Traditions in the Chaumont Tapestries." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 7 (1961): 182-90 p. 182-190 25142463
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 75 archive.org
    Wixom, William D. Treasures from Medieval France. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 340 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 75 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 85 archive.org
    Seaton, Douglass. Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition. Mountain View, Calif: Mayfield Pub. Co, 1991.
    Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 154-157; Reproduced: p. 155
    Vignon, Charlotte, and Ian Wardropper. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. 2019. Mentioned & reproduced: pp. 218, fig. 78 - 219
  • Chefs d'oeuvre de la Tapisserie du XIVème au XVIème siècle (Tapestry Masterpieces from the 14th to the 16th Century). Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (organizer) (October 26, 1973-January 7, 1974); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 7-April 19, 1974).
  • {{cite web|title=Time (From Chateau de Chaumont Set)|url=false|author=|year=1512–15|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.176.3