The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Horizontally long tapestry depicting three women gathering flowers on our left while three men wearing armor watch on our right. Behind sprawls a building made up of continuous archways and surrounded by greenery. Around the border, panels with women reclining alternate with fruit and foliage. All people featured have light skin tones. A tree trunk separates the women from the men, with more people in the background, soldiers clustered to the right, behind the men.

Romans Admiring the Sabine Women

1570–90

Belgium, Brussels, 16th century

tapestry weave: silk and wool
Overall: 205 x 485 cm (80 11/16 x 190 15/16 in.)
Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.820
Location: Not on view
  • Conservation treatment of this tapestry was undertaken by Royal Manufacturers De Wit in Mechelen, Belgium, in 2018–19. De Wit specializes in the treatment of tapestries. As part of the treatment process, the tapestry was wet-cleaned with water and a mild soap solution. The tapestry likely had not been wet-cleaned for at least 70 years, and possibly longer.
  • ?–1942
    John L. Severance [1863–1936], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1942–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. Mentioned: p. 59, no. 119 archive.org
    William M. Milliken, Gertrude Underhill, and Jean Mailey." Department of Decorative Arts." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 29, No. 9 (Nov., 1942), 137–151. Mentioned: p. 149 www.jstor.org
    Standen, Edith A. “Romans and Sabines: A Sixteenth-Century Set of Flemish Tapestries,” Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 9 (1974), 211–228. pp. 214, 215 www.jstor.org
    Standen, Edith Appleton. European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Volume I. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985
  • Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 12, 1942-March 14, 1943).
  • {{cite web|title=Romans Admiring the Sabine Women|url=false|author=|year=1570–90|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.820