Description

Oil Dedicated to St Mammes

The St Mammes is dedicated to the 3rd century martyr.

According to legend, St Mammes martyred under Emperor Aurelian in Cappadocia in around 275. Highly revered in justifyMinor in early Christian times and described as a “great martyr”. In the 8th century his relics taken to Langres in France and he became patron saint of Langres cathedral.

In around 1540 eight tapestries depicting scenes from his life woven for the chancel. Three still survive, two in Langres and one in the Louvre. After the saint had addressed the wild animals (the subject of one of the two tapestries in Langres), he went on, accompanied by a lion, to visit Duke Alexander (according to the inscription woven into the bottom of the present tapestry; strictly speaking, however, it should Aurelian), who condemned him to death. The saint’s execution can seen in the temple-like building in the middle ground.

The expansive landscape, the confident handling of perspective and the classicizing architecture all point to Italian influences, which may have come from the School of Fontainebleau. Its astonishing wealth of nuances of colour lead the tapestry to resemble a painting on canvas.