This dalmatic is part of a rare complete set of ecclesiastical vestments surviving the troubled period of the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth-century Holland. Its preservation and that of its companion pieces—today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art—are of special interest because the robes share a linked symbolism and can be dated to 1570 from an inscription on one of the Metropolitan garments.
"We are bent, not broken by the waves", reads the motto woven on the banderoles of the design, a particularly appropriate sentiment for Dutch Catholics. From the 1560s they had endured Protestant hostility against the church and its clergy, a situation prevailing in Utrecht until 1580, when Roman Catholic public worship was finally suppressed.
This robe bears the coats of arms of the Van Der Geer and Van Culenborch families of Utrecht, probably confirming that the set was commissioned for use in a private chapel, a timely decision in light of events. The biblical imagery is also fitting; the bulrushes rising above the waves allude both to the inscription and to Moses, who led the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt.
This message of salvation has been interpreted with technical virtuosity. The dalmatic is done in a flat tapestry weave, but its design imitates piled Italian velvets. The fabric panels also include embroidery accentuating details of the design, suggesting that this unusual combination of techniques was an effort to achieve a richness of surface normally associated with more costly imported textiles.
