. On April 7, 1377, the accounts of Louis I, duke of Anjou and brother of King Charles V, mention a payment of 1,000 francs to Nicholas Bataille for two tapestries of the “Story of the Apocalypse.” In January 1378, fifty francs were paid to Hennequin de Bruges for the design and cartoons. The entire set originally involved seven pieces and probably eighty-four scenes altogether. In spite of the loss of several scenes, the tapestries, now displayed in the castle of Angers, remain one of the most ambitious tapestry projects ever undertaken and still measure some 354 feet long by over 13 feet high. They were among the first storied tapestries, as tapestry design had been previously restricted to geometric and animal patterns.
In the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, also known as the Apocalypse of St. John, the angel of Christ reveals the events of the Apocalypse, or the end of time, to St. John. Representations were popular in 13th-and 14th-century Apocalypse manuscripts, and the duke of Anjou borrowed a manuscript of the historiated Apocalypse (now B. N. fr. 403) from his brother the king to use as a model. All scenes run from left to right and with alternating red and blue backgrounds. The first three pieces have solid backgrounds, while those of the final four pieces are strewn with flowers, stylized animals, and scrollwork to break the monotony. Each piece originally seems to have held a figure in an architectural setting to one side, then continued with two registers of seven scenes each for the narration, with a band of angels above to represent the heavens, and a band of plants below for the earth. St. John appears in all of the scenes, which closely follow the text of the Apocalypse. The arms of Louis I of Anjou and Marie of Brittany, the wife of Louis, appear in the banners held by angels.
Stacy L. Boldrick
[See also: TAPESTRY]
Planchenault, Rene. L ’Apocalypse d’Angers. Paris: Caisse Nationale des Monuments Historiques, 1966.
Souchal, Genevieve F. Les tapisseries de l’Apocalypse a Angers. Milan: Hachette-Fabbri-Skira, 1969.
World History
