Mystery Play of King Clovis, Painted Cloth of Reims, Antique Print, 1849

About this sheet

A dense crowd of figures in fifteenth century court dress gathered before a church under construction, with masons at work on the scaffolding above and a kneeling king laying a stone, every face individual. The sheet is lettered as a scene from the history of the Strong King Clovis, a mystery play of the fifteenth century, representing the foundation of the church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, now Sainte Genevieve, from a painted cloth in the city of Reims.

The sheet comes from Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, the great illustrated survey of medieval and Renaissance life edited by Paul Lacroix and Ferdinand Sere and published in Paris from the Administration at 5 rue du Pont-de-Lodi. This is Tome Second, dated 1849 on its own title page. The colored drawings were made by A. Rivaud and his colleagues and printed in chromolithography by the Paris house of Lemercier, then the finest color printer in Europe.

Painted cloths were the poor relation of tapestry and almost none survive, so a colored record of one is a rare thing. The subject joins two strands at once: the mystery plays, which are the root of European theater, and the building of a great church, drawn with real interest in the scaffolding and the tools. It suits a hall or a stair, where its crowd of figures can be read at leisure.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.