Jesse Sleeping
Artist
Gauthier de Campes
(Belgian, documented 1500 - 1533)
CultureFrench
Dateca. 1520
MediumGlass with silver stain, vitreous enamel, and pigment
Dimensions19 11/16 in. (50 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2019.36.2
Not on view
Label TextGauthier de Campes, also known as the Master of Montmorency
Belgian, documented 1500–33
Jesse Sleeping, ca. 1520
Paris, France Glass with silver stain, vitreous enamel, and pigment
The peaceful, slumbering image of an elderly man is just a small part of what was once a monumental stained glass window. The original composition of the window would have placed the Old Testament figure of Jesse near the bottom. Tree branches would have sprouted upwards from his sleeping form, filled with Jesse’s descendants including Christ at the very top. This motif, the Tree of Jesse, was used in Christian art as a metaphor of genealogy and a visual representation of the prophecy of Christ. This panel comes from the highly-esteemed workshops of northern France. It displays the entire range of techniques employed by painters of the era: stippled shading, parallel hatching, sgraffito (scratched) highlights, and the new innovation of pink-sanguine pigment to create flesh tones.
Museum purchase 2019.36.2
Provenancepurchased by Sam Fogg, Poitiers, France, 2010s; purchased by the Chrysler Museum of Art, 2019.
18th century
