The Great Antependium of the Ursulines of Amiens

What better way to celebrate a beautiful acquisition than by dedicating a focus exhibition to it? After a few presentations to patrons and during Heritage Days, the extraordinary altar frontal embroidered by Ursuline nuns in the 17th century can finally be permanently displayed to the Picardy public and the many contributors who made its acquisition possible in 2024. Now definitively part of the public collections thanks to the vital support of the Ministry of Culture’s Heritage Fund and the Regional Museum Acquisition Fund, as well as the equally decisive support of the Crédit Agricole Brie Picardie Foundation and the Association des Amis des Musées d’Amiens, this masterpiece has attracted many private donors, who joined forces at the launch of the fundraising campaign, which was a resounding success (see article), raising twice the hoped-for amount: nearly €30,000 was finally collected between February and April 2024! Such enthusiasm deserves to be recognised, as a whole wall is dedicated to the campaign (ill. 1).

This object, an anonymous collective masterpiece, is one of those that "can radically transform the appearance of a collection", as Pierre Stépanoff announced in his foreword to the short book by François Séguin, who is now responsible for studying and caring for this treasure that has returned to Picardy. The highly educational exhibition traces the history of the convent, founded in 1616, and its place in the city of Amiens, where it flourished rapidly. François Séguin recounts the convent’s development in the Picardy region after the Catholic Reformation. At the end of the 17th century, Amiens had no fewer than 23 convents (!), fourteen of which were reserved for men and nine for women. From the 1620s onwards, the Ursuline convent spread…