The following is part two of an article by Karin Melbye Gjesdahl, “Weaving in Valdres” [“Vevkunst I Valdres”] published in Valdres Bygdebok, Vol. 5, 1964, pp. 27-35 and 636-637. (A bygdebok is a compilation of local history.) This section describing seven large tapestries connected to Valdres, and the postscript about the Leine Tapestry, were translated by Lisa Torvik in 2021.

Laurann Gilbertson, Curator at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, gets occasional inquiries about the historical Norwegian Leine Tapestry, woven in the 1600s and described in this essay. According to museum records, in the 1920s when the collection was at Luther College, the owner of the Leine Tapestry lent it for display at the museum. However, the owner was convinced that it was woven in the 11th century, and when staff at the museum more appropriately dated it in the 1600s, she was unhappy and took back the tapestry.  As you will read below, the tapestry was eventually sold “to a man in New York.” Where is it now? 

Preserved textiles are more abundant as we approach the 1600s.  It is then that Flemish or tapestry weaving enjoys tremendous growth here in [Norway.]  There is great disagreement as to what extent Flemish weaving occurred here in the Middle Ages, and whether it has been a continuous tradition from then to the Flemish weavings of the Renaissance era.  The only surviving medieval weaving in Flemish technique we have, the Baldishol tapestry, probably dates from around 1200.  Doubt has also been expressed as to whether the Baldishol tapestry was actually woven in Norway.  It has been called a “rare bird” in this country.  (Marta Hoffman,  A group of looms in Western Norway, pg. 40.) But of course it is entirely random as to what has been preserved of medieval textiles.  We will leave that question open for the moment, as things may yet turn up which change the picture.  We can only establish that under the influence of European tapestry weaving, tapestries were woven in a vertical format for the upper classes here in [Norway] at the end of the 1500s.  And this influence then probably spread from the estates of officialdom to other rural areas where tapestry weaving blossomed fully in the 1600s and beginning of the 1700s, primarily in the valley of Gudbrandsdal.

In comparison to the approximately 1200 tapestry works which are registered here in [Norway], the ca. 47 pictorial weavings from Valdres might seem relatively few.  But besides Trøndelag, Valdres is the district outside of Gudbrandsdal which has preserved the most works in tapestry.  How much of this work has actually been woven in Valdres, and how much was imported from other districts, is difficult to determine today. The motifs are largely the same as we find in our other tapestries, and we can demonstrate connection in the weavings with Gudbrandsdal, western Norway and in part also those from Trøndelag. But we also find distinctive features which may indicate that the weavings in tapestry technique have been woven in the [Valdres] valley.

The majority of the surviving material consists of pillow and cushion covers, but there are also 7 large tapestries which are attributed to Valdres in origin.

One of the most favored motifs in our tapestries is the story of the “three holy kings” [Three Wise Men or Magi] and their adoration of the Christ Child. Four tapestries from Valdres have this motif in two different formats.  The motif itself is frequently used throughout Christian art and is known from the early Middle Ages. The tale of the Three Wise Men from the East is a story which very early on appealed to the imagination, and which in the folk, and for that matter the religious, tradition was endowed with details which do not appear in the gospels.  “From Saba came the kings three” we sing in an old Christmas hymn from the 1400s.  Here in Norway we find the motif already carved on the Dynna-stone in Hadeland, which probably dates from the 11^th century; on the reliquary casket in the Hedal stave church from ca. 1200; and in textile art from the embroidered fragment of cloth from Høylandet church in North Trøndelag, dated to the end of the 1100s, to name a few examples.

In the 1600s we see the motif among others painted in a frieze in the Eidsborg church in Telemark, dated 1604, where each of the kings on horseback, wearing Renaissance clothing, are framed within their own arch-shaped field, and where the frieze design leads us to think of the long, narrow tapestries of the Middle Ages.  We also see similar arched framing depicted in later painted Swedish tapestries.

We don’t know what was the direct model for two nearly identical tapestries from Valdres, one in the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm, and the other in private ownership in the U.S.A., (fig. 6). 

The frieze-format is abandoned, the tapestry has been given the characteristic vertical format of the Renaissance and the three riders and adoration scene are each set in their own rectangular field.  It has been pointed out that the division of the back of a seat of honor or throne into rectangular panels might be the inspiration for this composition.  On our tapestries, the four fields are separated horizontally by a band with inscription, edged with a hatched border, and vertically with a double banded braid on each side of a border with stars and crosses. In all four fields there are buildings in the background and a stylized presentation of a tree on one side. The Magi have crowns on their heads and are dressed in Renaissance-style clothes with knee breeches and ruffed collars.  Two of them wear capes. The position of the horses varies from field to field, but all have short, brush-like manes, bound tails and the characteristic rigid stance we know from other depictions of riders in our folk art. In the upper right field sits Mary with the Child in her lap and the Magi kneeling before them. In all the fields the star shines against a deep blue sky. And otherwise the entire space is filled with flowers, leaves, stars and different types of ornamentation. A broad border consisting of a meandering vine with eight-petaled roses surrounds the tapestry, a border that appears in a great many of our tapestries.

The colors are mainly limited to red, blue, green, gold and white, with edges in natural black.  Both tapestries are adorned with an unreadable inscription and in the upper right corner “ANNO” and a year which no doubt should be read as 1625. It is remarkable that we know of eight almost identical tapestries which all bear the same year, and of which a number present the motif in the same way. All of these eight tapestries are so similar that they probably were created by the same hand. Now, as Thor Kielland [1984-1963, art historian, museum researcher and director and author] says in his book Norwegian Tapestry [Norsk Billedvev], it is very unlikely that the same weaver or weaving workshop could have woven eight such tapestries in the course of one year. It probably can be explained that the tapestries are copies of an older work which was dated 1625, and that these were woven sometime later. The inscription on the horizontal band also indicates that the weaver was not literate. Even if these inscriptions are read backwards, which often must be done because the weaver has the back side of the work towards herself as she weaves, no real meaning is discernible. The execution also feels somewhat systematic and stiff, as is often the case in our tapestries when the motif is copied from tapestry to tapestry.

Of the approximately 21 “Three Magi” tapestries in a quadratic composition that exist today, 9 are of determined origin:  5 are from Gudbrandsdal, 1 from South Trøndelag, 1 is from Sogn, and then we have these 2 from Valdres.   It is most likely that even these last two must have originally come from Gudbrandsdal.  Their color tones are quite close to other weavings from Gudbrandsdal.

The only information about the Valdres tapestry in the Nordiska Museet [Stockholm, but now in the collection of the Norsk Folkemuseum] is that it was purchased in 1874 in an art dealership in Kristiania [now Oslo.]   The U.S.A. tapestry was part of an exhibition at Luther College, Decorah (Iowa) in the 1920s. (Tora Bøhn, Silver tankards and tapestries of Norwegian origin in the U.S.A.  Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (Trondheim)  Yearbook 1950 fig. 11 [Sølvkanner og billedtepper av norsk opprinnelse I U.S.A.  Nordenfj. Kunstind.mus.  Årb. 1950])  This tapestry belonged to Mrs. Ingeborg Stende, née Leine.  She came from one of the Leine farms in Vang [in Valdres] and had received the tapestry from her father. She took the tapestry with her to America in 1871. As mentioned before, she related that this tapestry was lent out for funerals in her rural [Valdres] community. According to family tradition it was also used for a time to wrap the family silver (Valdres Union’s Christmas magazine 1926 [Samband julenummer 1926]). The present location of this tapestry is unknown.

The motif of the Three Magi also appears in another form in tapestries.  The tapestries we have discussed with their symmetric and well-balanced composition are clearly influenced by Renaissance art.  The other group, where the entire design is pressed together within an oval frame, is presumably following a Baroque model.  We often encounter such round or oval compositions within the Baroque, which was the reigning art form here [in Norway] in the last half of the 17^th century.  Animals running along the oval frame that surrounds the center picture are also common in pictorial art of this period.  For example, we find them on carved tankards from the 1600s, but they also appear earlier during the 1400s, e.g. on decorated porcelain and brass dishes. 

This alternate Three Magi motif can be observed in 2 tapestries from Valdres.  Again we find the Magi/kings on their horses in the same characteristic positions as on the previous tapestries, and beneath them Mary with the Child.  A stylized tree borders the composition on one side.  The oval frame or band which surrounds it all appears to be rolled up at the top and bottom.  Around this band run animals, as mentioned, each of which is easy to identify, such as the fox with it white-tipped tail, the hare, the unicorn, the elephant and what is likely a bear.  There are several birds, and the one with the curved neck must be a pelican, which according to legend pecked its own breast to feed its chicks with blood.  On one of the tapestries, it has some red on its bill.  The uppermost animal with the snake-like hindquarters probably depicts a basilisk, a dangerous legendary creature which could kill with one naked look.  It is not easy to understand the connection between the Three Magi motif and these animals.  But it is worth noting that several of these same animals, with inscriptions of what they represent, appear as a frieze under the depiction of the Three Holy Kings in the Swedish bonad painting tradition.

The four corners of our tapestries are filled with winged heads of angels.  The entire background of the tapestry rectangles are filled with flowers, vines and small decorative figures.  This creates a somewhat motley, almost mosaic effect, but is at the same time a bit delightful with all these colors flickering before one’s eyes.  There are a number of examples of this design format of the Three Magi, and with small variations, they are quite similar. 

One of the tapestries from Valdres is now at the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm (fig. X) No other information about this tapestry is known except that it is originally from Valdres and that it was purchased in 1874 from an art dealership in Kristiania [Oslo].

The other tapestry is at Valdres Folkemuseum (fig. 7). 

This tapestry is said to have been bought by sheriff Helge Thune at an auction on the Remme farm in Vang [Valdres] and later given to the museum.  Information available states that the tapestry was a part of a dowry that came to Remme from Leirhol [farm in Vang, Valdres.]  It is difficult to trace such claims today.  There is a record of inherited property from Remme in 1705.  No Flemish tapestry is mentioned in it.  On the other hand, a similar record of inheritance from Leirhol in 1701 lists a Flemish bedcovering valued at 2 rd.  However, it is quite unlikely that such a fine tapestry as the Remme-tapestry was not more highly valued than 2 rd.

The tapestry in the Nordiska Museet distinguishes itself from all the others in this group.  All the figures in the tapestry, including the angels and unicorns, are more naturalistic, not as stiff and stylized as on the other tapestries with this motif.  It is therefore probable that this is one of the oldest of this series and that it is closer to the original model, what we might call the source tapestry.  The palette of colors also varies somewhat from the rest.   It is true that the background is red, like the others, the horses are red or blue or white and the oval frame is gold, but there is a pale pink tone over the whole piece that we do not find in the other tapestries, those where a more brick red color dominates with inlay of gold, blue and green.

The most common motif on the border of these tapestries is the meandering rose vine shifting between red and blue eight-petaled roses on a pale red and blue ground.  This is also found on the tapestry from Remme.  The tapestry in the Nordiska Museet has a border on the longer vertical sides of opposing palmettos, actually pomegranates cut in two, and just a very narrow border with triangles at the top and bottom.

Thor Kielland explored the notion that this group originated in a Valdres weaving workshop since the tapestry believed to be the oldest came from Valdres.  But since four of the other weavings were determined to be from Skjåk and Lom [in Gudbrandsdal] and one from South Trøndelag, he decided that the group must belong to Gudbrandsdal after all, and also probably the one from Remme, though the one in the Nordiska Museet was possibly a Valdres variant of the motif based on its distinctive characteristics.

As far as dating goes, the year 1661 is woven into one of the Gudbrandsdal tapestries while the youngest piece in the group, which appears stylized and disorganized, is dated 1730.   As mentioned before, we cannot rely on these dates, but these do not seem improbable.  And while the tapestry in the Nordiska Museet must be an early expression of this motif, 1660 is certainly not too early to date it, as Kielland has done.  However, we will remain on the safe side if we date the tapestry from Remme at the end of the 1600s.   

Afterword regarding the Leine tapestry in USA

Valdres native Jøger O. Quale from Vestre Slidre, now in St. Paul, Minn., has given a lot of time and thought to finding out what happened to the valuable Leine tapestry.  He has relayed by letter dated July 26, 1964 this information, among other things:

Ingeborg Stende who owned the tapestry had lived in Ulen, Minnesota.  Quale traveled there with Knut Ødegaard and learned about an elderly lady with the last name Stende.  So he writes:  

She was a very fine elderly lady.  I asked if she was a daughter of Ingeborg Stende, but she was not.  She was the widow of John Stende, Ingeborg’s son.  She lived together with an older daughter.  Well, she knew of the tapestry.  Ingeborg’s son Thomas had taken care of it, she said.  He had died many years ago.  He had sent a photo and the tapestry itself around to various experts and academics.  Almost all of them believed it was made in Rome and came to Norway via Norwegian pirates.  Only one had written that was not as old as from 1025.  Thomas had finally sold the tapestry in the 1930s to a man in New York for $700. That was all she and the daughter knew of the tapestry, of which they had an unclear picture.  Ingeborg and John Stende came up to Ulen from Goodhue County and got homestead land there.”

That’s the way it can go with cultural treasures that come to the U.S.A.!  Quale deserves thanks for his research efforts.  The editorial board.

Editor’s note: This is the end of part two of “Art Weaving in Valdres.” Part three, which will be published in the November issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter, examines many smaller tapestries.