Vasco da Gama's Return, tapestry

What it is

This is a large woven tapestry titled Vasco da Gamas aterkomst, made in the Hautelisse technique and dated 1525. The Nationalmuseum holds it. Its decorative foliage border frames a crowded scene of figures in 16th-century dress, including a bearded man in a long robe at right, a seated figure with a tall headdress, and soldiers with spears and banners, set among trees and buildings. The image is a depiction, not a portrait of da Gama.

Why it matters

The tapestry shows how the return from India was remembered and pictured in the 1500s. It was made in the period after da Gama's voyages, so it tells us how later makers and their audiences imagined the voyage. The curator's note calls it a later depiction tied to his voyage, so it should be read as an interpretation, not as a record made by an eyewitness.

Look closer

• Who in the scene looks most important, and how does the weaving show that?
• Why might the maker have added soldiers, banners and crowds to a return journey?
• What might this later picture leave out about the voyage, and who might have commissioned it?