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This rare panel originally hung above a large embroidery that decorated the front of an altar in a church. The narrative begins with the Virgin’s parents and her early life; that panel is now in the Toledo Museum of Art. Cleveland’s portion continues the story with the Annunciation of the Virgin, Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Christ, Christ among the Doctors, and the Assumption of the Virgin. The Death of the Virgin scene is likely missing. Painters usually sketched designs on stretched linen for embroiderers. Gold thread enriches the background and is secured in place with couching stitches in a small brick pattern.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- 8a02361f7191dd16
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 149376
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
{
"id": "149376",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Scenes of the Life of the Virgin, from an Altar Frontal",
"description": "This rare panel originally hung above a large embroidery that decorated the front of an altar in a church. The narrative begins with the Virgin’s parents and her early life; that panel is now in the Toledo Museum of Art. Cleveland’s portion continues the story with the Annunciation of the Virgin, Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Christ, Christ among the Doctors, and the Assumption of the Virgin. The Death of the Virgin scene is likely missing. Painters usually sketched designs on stretched linen for embroiderers. Gold thread enriches the background and is secured in place with couching stitches in a small brick pattern.",
"date": "1330s or 1340s",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1978.36",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q79930523"
],
"genreSpecific": [
"Embroidery"
],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 16.8 x 127 cm (6 5/8 x 50 in.); Mounted: 27.9 x 137.2 cm (11 x 54 in.)",
"cul": [
"Italy, Florence, 14th century"
],
"accession": "1978.36"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "149376",
"label": "Scenes of the Life of the Virgin, from an Altar Frontal",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "149376",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Scenes of the Life of the Virgin, from an Altar Frontal",
"description": "This rare panel originally hung above a large embroidery that decorated the front of an altar in a church. The narrative begins with the Virgin’s parents and her early life; that panel is now in the Toledo Museum of Art. Cleveland’s portion continues the story with the Annunciation of the Virgin, Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Christ, Christ among the Doctors, and the Assumption of the Virgin. The Death of the Virgin scene is likely missing. Painters usually sketched designs on stretched linen for embroiderers. Gold thread enriches the background and is secured in place with couching stitches in a small brick pattern.",
"date": "1330s or 1340s",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1978.36",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q79930523"
],
"genreSpecific": [
"Embroidery"
],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 16.8 x 127 cm (6 5/8 x 50 in.); Mounted: 27.9 x 137.2 cm (11 x 54 in.)",
"cul": [
"Italy, Florence, 14th century"
],
"accession": "1978.36"
}
Document source extras
{
"tec": "Silk, gold thread, linen; raised work, embroidery: split, stem, running, fishbone, and couching stitches",
"tombstone": "Scenes of the Life of the Virgin, from an Altar Frontal, 1330s or 1340s. Italy, Florence, 14th century. Silk, gold thread, linen; raised work, embroidery: split, stem, running, fishbone, and couching stitches; overall: 16.8 x 127 cm (6 5/8 x 50 in.); mounted: 27.9 x 137.2 cm (11 x 54 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund, 1978.36",
"collection": "T - Ecclesiastical",
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Six Works from Von Hirsch Collection,” August 1, 1978, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr2569"
},
{
"citation": "Wardwell, Anne E. \"A Rare Florentine Embroidery of the Fourteenth Century.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 66, no. 9 (1979): 322-33.",
"page_number": "p. 322-33",
"url": "www.jstor.org/stable/25159650"
},
{
"citation": "Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. 1980. “Recent Major Acquisitions of Medieval Art by American Museums.” <em>Gesta</em> 19 (1): 67–77.",
"page_number": "p. 75, fig. 27"
},
{
"citation": "Martin Nagy, Rebecca. Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985.",
"page_number": "p. 22-23, 58"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1978.36",
"creditline": "Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-29 07:41:19.899000",
"imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_print.jpg",
"sourceId": 149376,
"dept": "Textiles",
"coll": "T - Ecclesiastical",
"med": "Silk, gold thread, linen; raised work, embroidery: split, stem, running, fishbone, and couching stitches",
"thumbnail_url": null,
"image_url": null
}
Page context
{
"seq": 1,
"pageIndex": 0,
"type": "photo",
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1978.36/1978.36_web.jpg",
"mediaId": "8a02361f7191dd16"
}