Catalogue of the Retrospective Loan Exhibition of European Tapestries

This audio guide walks you through a landmark early‑20th‑century exhibition that assembled, for the first time in America, a continuous survey of European tapestry from the 14th through the early 19th centuries. Curated by a museum scholar, the catalogue frames each work within the broader currents of art history, showing how the craft evolved alongside painting and architecture. Listeners will hear the ambitious goal of bringing these woven masterpieces out of the shadow of oil‑painted canvases and into clear focus.

The collection spans the famed looms of France, Flanders, Germany, Spain, England and Russia, presenting everything from allegorical myth scenes to intimate still‑lifes. Highlights include two rare Fontainebleau pieces, an unusually complete Gothic series, and scarce Spanish and Russian examples that rarely leave their home institutions. Each entry is accompanied by scholarly notes on design, technique, and the cultural stories that the silk and wool threads once narrated, helping listeners picture the texture and colour that survive only in the fabric itself.