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Jesse Sleeping

Artist Gauthier de Campes (Belgian, documented 1500 - 1533)

Dateca. 1520

MediumGlass with silver stain, vitreous enamel, and pigment

Dimensions19 11/16 in. (50 cm)

ClassificationsGlass

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2019.36.2

Terms

portraits
Christianity
Paris
glass
stained glass

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis work depicts Jesse as an elderly bearded man wearing a yellow hat and robe, with his eyes closed and his head resting on his hand. This figural fragment was originally part of a monumental window program showing the Tree of Jesse motif, and this portion was rescued and reassembled (likely in the 19th c.) using flat red glass (contemporary with the Jesse glass sections) and lead cames to form a roundel. The colorless flat glass of the figure is painted on both the front and back sides with silver stain, dark vitreous paint, and pink sanguine pigment. The work is set into a circular black frame and illuminated with LED as a lightbox.
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