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Shepherds in a Round Dance
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Late medieval tapestries often use a limited yet contrasting color palette to portray stylized images. The expressions of these figures, for example, are conveyed more by their postures than by their faces. Four shepherds and shepherdesses join hands and dance to the music of a bagpiper at the far right, while a lord and two ladies on the left look on. A dog and sheep amid blossoming plants and trees contribute to the festive pastoral scene in front of a castle.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineShepherds in a Round Dance, around 1500. Netherlands, early 16th century. Wool and silk: tapestry weave; overall: 360.5 x 401.1 cm (141 15/16 x 157 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr., for the Coralie Walker Hanna Memorial Collection, 1939.158
