A Monumental-Scale Crimson Velvet Cloth of Gold in The Met: Historical, Technical, and Materials Analysis

• Published in: Metropolitan Museum journal Vol. 57; p. 134
• Main Authors: Chiostrini, Giulia, Cleland, Elizabeth, Shibayama, Nobuko, Carò, Federico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago University of Chicago Press 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Decorative arts; Fabrics; Textiles; Visual arts
• ISSN: 0077-8958; 2169-3072
• DOI: 10.1086/723660

The French humanist and poet Jacques Dubois described the temporary palace of Henry VIII erected at the massive, northern French site of the diplomatic meeting between the English king and Francis I in June 1520. Memorably coined by contemporaries as the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in recognition of the copious amounts of velvet fabrics on view in both royal enclosures, this moniker is just one reminder of the preeminent role of expensive, sumptuous textiles as conspicuous, competitive signifiers of royal pomp and splendor in Renaissance Europe. The exhibition "The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England," organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2022-23), explores the interplay between the decorative and the visual arts at the English royal courts during the long sixteenth century. Although posterity lingers on the material extravagances of Henry VIII, it was his father, Henry VII, founder of the Tudor monarchy, who first realized the extent to which visual majesty could bolster the family's tenuous claims to the crown. Certainly, despite the posthumous reputation of Henry VII for fiscal sobriety, account books reveal his prodigious spending on Italian luxury velvets.