ELIZABETH BANNER ALLEGORY OF VICTIMS AND VERTUSES... Lot 42

ELIZABETH BANNER ALLEGORY OF VICTIMS AND VERTUSES (?) England, late 16th century Petit point; wool and silk H. 50 x W. 185 cm This astonishing petit point tapestry presents a procession of Elizabethan courtly figures joined by divinities and devils. Behind them lies a vast garden with a dwelling on the left and a series of arcades on the right. The composition revolves around the two central female figures. The women are talking in front of an archway containing an image of the Temptation of Adam and Eve by the Serpent. The woman on the right is seated. Her clawed feet are bloody. Behind her, a sword-wielding devil with a pair of flabby breasts clutches a rope around a young woman's neck. They stand in front of a canopy where a majestic lady is enthroned and visited by an angel. Snakes and toads complete the picture. On the opposite side, a naked little girl covered with a veil accompanied by a large kneeling lady indicates a noble procession guided by Diana, recognizable by her bow and her crescent moon. The goddess is followed by a nun and a knight, among others. In the background is a sleeping Jesse. Our sequence of figures could be an allegory of the vices and virtues, with the noble figures on the virtue side, on the left, guided by the chaste Diana. The vices, and lust in particular, have sometimes been depicted in the guise of women with a rope around their necks, as in the Last Judgement Tapestry in the Louvre.