The Tenture de saint Étienne, on display at the Musée de Cluny in Paris but originally from Auxerre cathedral, is a magnificent example of the tapestry suites designed to decorate the choirs of sanctuaries at the end of the Middle Ages.

Comprising twelve pieces, it depicts the life, martyrdom and miracles of the church's patron saint in twenty-three scenes, with legends clearly identifying each episode. Commissioned around 1505 by Jean Baillet, Bishop of Auxerre, the cartoons used for the painting must have been made by Gautier de Campes, a painter active in Paris at the time.

With particular attention paid to landscapes, a detailed rendering of architecture and interior spaces, a marked desire to depict objects and animals, and an individualised conception of the characters, the cycle is marked by a certain realism.

Like the ensembles in Beaune, Reims and Beauvais, or in Angers and Le Mans, the Tenture de saint Étienne is one of the finest ensembles of its kind preserved in France.

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