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2005 The Cope of Bishop Bellera 7 September – 13 November 2005 daily 2 p.m. – 5.30 p.m. No other field of English art has commanded greater admiration than embroidery. Particularly in the late Middle Ages, English gold and silk embroideries were in great demand throughout Europe. They were much sought-after luxury goods and came to epitomise wealth, power and social prestige. Ramon de Bellera, Bishop of Vic in Catalonia from 1352 to 1377, donated one such valuable vestment to his cathedral. The gold and silk embroidery on the cope’s deep-red velvet shows scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary, as well as apostles, saints and angels making music. All these images are framed in a long trailing vine with leaf masks. The cope was cut into pieces in the seventeenth century and not reassembled until the nineteenth. Over the last few months it has been subjected to careful conservation in the Abegg-Stiftung’s textile conservation workshop. It is now on display in the museum in Riggisberg – just for a few weeks – before being returned to Vic. Guided tours focussing on the Cope of Bishop Bellera are scheduled for the following Saturdays: 22.10 and 12.11, always at 3 pm, in German St Edward the Confessor with a model of Westminster Abbey (detail from the cope). Gold, silver and silk embroidery on silk velvet, England, fourteenth century, Vic, Museu Episcopal. |
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