A Man and Woman in a Garden

maker Unknown

Date1590-1610

Place MadeEngland, Europe

MediumLinen tabby embroidered with polychrome wool silk yarns in tent stitches

Dimensions190.5 x 283.2 cm (75 x 111 1/2 in.)

ClassificationsFurnishings

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberT21e3

eMuseum ID718746

Alt. No. 2 (Cavallo)121

EmbARK ObjectID11874

Alt. No. 1 (Siple)001

TMS Source ID1032

Last Updated8/14/24

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryIsabella Gardner’s love of textiles can be seen throughout the museum. In the center of this densely embroidered textile, which was probably made to hang on a wall, a fashionably dressed couple stroll through a garden filled with animals. You can probably find the dogs and the monkey, but look for at least eight other kinds of creatures. On the left, a young man plays bagpipes beneath a tree. The border contains richly-dressed figures, more animals, and a variety of fruits and flowers. The prominence of the large figures set in such a lush environment suggests that the textile celebrates courtly love.

BibliographyNotesCatalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 15. (as "Piece of Henri II Needlework")
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 174.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 9, no. 2 (12 Sep. 1965), p. 2.
Lisa O. Ehret. "Chateau and Garden Tapestries at Fenway Court." Fenway Court (1977), p. 25, no. 5.
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), pp. 150-51, cat. 99. (as English or French, 1590-1610)
Linda J. Docherty. "Translating Dante: Isabella Stewart Gardner's Museum as Paradiso." Religion and the Arts (2018), p. 210.

ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the dealer Antonio Carrer (d. 1912), Venice in the spring of 1893 for about $2,000 through the American painter and collector Ralph W. Curtis (1854–1922).