Autumn: Vintage Scene

Description

In 16th-century Europe, the grape harvest took place in autumn, a tradition that persists among vintners to this day. Here, men and women gather grapes in buckets and drop them into an enormous wood vat. Two men stomp on the ripe grapes, squeezing out the juice. A man on the far right pours the juice into barrels, where it will ferment into wine. Children sleep or play in the foreground; one mischievous toddler presses grape juice into the mouth of another small child. In the distance four couples dance to music provided by a bagpiper, who is perched in a tree.

Provenance

Balloch Castle, Scotland.; Henry Symons Sale: Anderson Galleries, New York, January 27-Febuary 3, 1923 (January 27-Febuary 3, 1923); Frank Hadley Ginn (1868-1938) and Cornelia Winifred Root Ginn (1877-1937), Cleveland, OH (1923-1952); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1952-)

Autumn: Vintage Scene

Gobelins Manufactory

designed c. 1535, woven mid- to late 1600s

Accession Number

1952.544.3

Medium

Wool, silk, and gold filé: tapestry weave

Dimensions

Overall: 263 x 370 cm (103 9/16 x 145 11/16 in.)

Classification

Tapestry

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Francis Ginn, Marian Ginn Jones, Barbara Ginn Griesinger, and Alexander Ginn in memory of Frank Hadley Ginn and Cornelia Root Ginn