The Harlot Seated on the Beast

Louis II, Duke of Anjou, the brother of Charles V, commissioned Jean Bondol of Bruges (active 1368-1381) to execute the project for the so_called Angers Apocalypse Tapestries. This was a significant contribution to the International Style, measuring about 5 m high and 143 m in length. The impressive hangings, consisting of seven sections with scenes from the Book of Revelation, were to decorate the walls of his palace in Angers. Jean Bondol was employed to compose the cartoons in line drawings for the series, and Charles’s tapestry weaver, Nicolas Bataille executed them in his Parisian workshop sometime between 1377 and 1379. Bondol apparently took his inspiration from an illustrated Apocalypse manuscript, although he obviously exercised many liberties in composing the ninety-odd scenes. The tapestries resemble, in fact, magnified miniatures adjusted in scale for mural presentation.

The picture shows one of the scenes of the tapestry.