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Material: Fabric
Vintage Tapestry With Birds 7X5
Located in Los Angeles, US
A wall hanging tapestry, simply put, is a textile specifically designed and woven to portray an artistic scene with the intent of hanging it on a wall. Antique tapestries, those that...
Category
Early 2000s Unknown Empire Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Huge early 1700
s Verdure Aubusson Tapestry
Located in LYON, FR
French Aubusson woven tapestry from the early 1700's depicting a lizard standing in luscious vegetation. Created in Aubusson, located in central France. Interestingly this vertical w...
Category
1720s French Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Mid-Century French Textile Wall Hanging Design by Robert Debiève
By Roger Debievres
Located in Antwerp, BE
This striking mid-century French wall hanging is a printed textile artwork designed by renowned French artist Robert Debiève. Known for his vibrant, playful compositions, Debiève’s...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Fabric
Little Wood Harp, Jean Picart Le Doux - French Aubusson Maison Berthaut - N 1536
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: Charles Marcel Jean Picart Le Doux
Era: 20th century
Style: 1950s-1960s design
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool
Width: 125 cm
Height: 162 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
In keep...
Category
20th Century French Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Vintage Hand Woven African Mohair Tapestry “Reflection in Pond”
Located in Barrington, IL
This captivating hand-woven mohair tapestry, titled “Reflection in Pond,” is a stunning example of traditional tribal art from the Kingdom of Lesotho, Africa. Crafted from fine, handspun mohair wool and dyed using natural vegetable-based pigments, the piece features a serene scene of an antelope gazing at its reflection in a still pond. Rich in texture and narrative, the tapestry reflects the refined skill and storytelling heritage of African weavers. A hand-stitched sleeve is sewn into the back for easy wall display with a tapestry rod. This textile artwork offers a sophisticated and meaningful accent for interior designers, collectors, and decorators seeking authentic African craftsmanship.
Dimensions: 31” x 33”
Date of Manufacture: 3rd Quarter of the 1900s
Place of Origin: Kingdom of Lesotho, Africa
Material: Wool, Mohair on Linen
Condition: Excellent
The Persian Knot Gallery, SKU: 2206
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Category
1970s Lesothian Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Corrie Schmidt Abstract Rectangular Form Fiber Art Sculptural Wall Hanging 1980s
Located in Cathedral City, CA
Cornelia (Corrie) Johanna Schmidt-Tom (1934-2020), Dutch-American, Fabulous Rectangular-Form Fiber Art in vivid red, purple, pink, blue, orange and white with a tan border around the...
Category
1980s American Organic Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Metal, Brass
Pretty vintage French needlepoint tapestry, « Moses saved from the Nile »
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
"Experience the timeless elegance of this exquisite French Aubusson style tapestry, capturing the essence of a biblical episode, where Moses in his cradle is pulled from the waters o...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Large Late 17th Century French Tapestry of Artemis and Callisto
Located in LYON, FR
During the 17th and 18th century Greek mythology was a common theme depicted in high-end French tapestries. Particularly Louis XIV who was very interested in depicting scenes from Gr...
Category
Late 17th Century French Louis XIV Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Dispersions by Grace Atkinson
Located in London, GB
These unique pieces are entirely handcrafted using a traditional technique developed in the 14th century by the Hutsuls; highlanders who have inhabited the Carpathian mountains of Uk...
Category
2010s French Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French 19th Century Framed Fox Tapestry
Located in Baton Rouge, LA
A charming French 19th century verdure-style tapestry depicting a lush, pastoral scene where spring flowers bloom, lambs graze in fields while their shepherd rests, and a sly fox wea...
Category
19th Century French Other Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Wood
Bobyrug’s Pretty Mid Century French Aubusson Tapestry medieval design
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Very pretty mid century french Aubusson tapestry with beautiful design from the painter Georges Deveche ( 1903-1974), showing a scene of a museum medieval tapestry with beautiful col...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Medieval Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Contemporary Organic Modern Moroccan Handspun Wool Wall Tapestry
Located in Marseille, FR
- Handspun and handwoven wool, oil paint
- 2025
- Edition of 20.
This tapestry is the result of a collaboration between memòri studio and all the spinners and weavers from the Feij...
Category
2010s Moroccan Organic Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
$3,159 Sale Price / item
20% Off
Bobyrug’s Wonderful palace size antique French Aubusson tapestry
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Exquisite Early 20th Century French Tapestry Fit for Royalty!
Discover a remarkable and exceedingly rare large antique French tapestry, dating back to the early 20th century. This masterpiece is believed to have been commissioned for a grand castle, featuring a design reminiscent of 18th or 17th-century tapestries. The artwork is a true visual marvel, portraying royal figures in regal attire standing before an imposing castle backdrop. The colors are simply stunning.
This tapestry is a testament to meticulous craftsmanship, as it was entirely handwoven using a blend of wool and silk on a sturdy cotton foundation. At the bottom, you'll find the inscription "Aubusson tapestry A.B," adding to its historical allure.
Perhaps it captures a royal court scene with the king standing tall, the queen seated...
Category
Early 20th Century French Aubusson Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
15th Century Antique Brussels Millefleur Tapestry 6
X 5
Located in Los Angeles, US
A wall hanging tapestry, simply put, is a textile specifically designed and woven to portray an artistic scene with the intent of hanging it on a wall. Antique tapestries, those that...
Category
15th Century and Earlier Unknown Other Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Mid-Century Modern Tapestry by Jean Picart le Doux,
Hommage a Paul Eluard
Located in London, GB
This is a stunning tapestry by the well-known tapestry maker Jean Picart le Doux. It is signed on the bottom right hand side. The tapestry is named 'Homage a Paul Eluard...
Category
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
$6,596 Sale Price
59% Off
Pair 70s Woven Oaxaca School Abstract Fiber Art Tapestries
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Pair 70s woven Oaxaca School abstract fiber art tapestries, A fine companion pair, from the Ole Oaxaca School, one titled 'Zig-Zag' , the other number '3', (r...
Category
Late 20th Century Mexican Mid-Century Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Wood
$1,920 Sale Price / set
20% Off
Nice vintage French Aubusson Style Panel Jacquard Tapestry
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
"Exquisite French panel tapestry, from the late 20th century, featuring a beautiful design and nice colours, woven at renowned workshops in jacquard looms in France by wool acrylic ...
Category
Late 20th Century French Aubusson Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton, Acrylic
19th Century Flemish Rustic Tapestry, with Villagers Holding a Birdcage
Located in New York, NY
A Flemish rustic tapestry from the 19th century, envisioning a noblewoman seated at center holding a plate of food, with another woman standing to her right with an empty bird cage, ...
Category
19th Century French Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
$9,995 Sale Price
33% Off
Juan Miro Tapestry Labelled by Atelier Jules Pansu, France 1990.
Located in Brussels, BE
Large rug or tapestry by Juan Miro " L'or de l'azur" edited by Atelier Jules Pansu.
Framed in a black wood box.
Labelled.
France around 1990.
Category
1990s French Mid-Century Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Wood
Exceptional Japanese Summer Asa Hitoe Weft Ikat Kimono Provenance
Located in Atlanta, GA
A super fine Japanese summer unlined (Hitoe) Kimono made with a soft Asa fiber blended with silk. The garment was hand-stitched and dated to circa 1930-50s Showa period. It is hard t...
Category
Mid-20th Century Japanese Showa Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Linen, Silk
Starfish, Jean Picart Le Doux - French Aubusson Tapestry, Maison Berthaut - 1543
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: Charles Marcel Jean Picart Le Doux
Era: 20th century
Style: 1950s-1960s design
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool
Width: 200 cm
Height: 150 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
In keep...
Category
20th Century French Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Mid-Century Modern Style Jujuy Black Raw Cotton Wall Tapestry
By AIREDELSUR
Located in Buenos Aires, AR
This dramatic wall hanging is an impressive statement piece for almost any room.Custom sizes and others colors available by request.
Each piece is completely made to order and is ava...
Category
2010s Argentine Other Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Cotton
Vintage Tapestry Depicting A Secret Garden 6.5X6.1
Located in Los Angeles, US
A wall hanging tapestry, simply put, is a textile specifically designed and woven to portray an artistic scene with the intent of hanging it on a wall. Antique tapestries, those that...
Category
Early 2000s Unknown Empire Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Textured macrame wall hanging, Spain, 1970s
Located in BARCELONA, ES
Superb macramé wall tapestry made in Spain in the 1970s. Large format. Handmade tapestry composed of different textures and materials creating unique patterns and reliefs. All the ro...
Category
1970s Spanish Hollywood Regency Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Italianate Baroque Revival Mid Century Yardage
Located in Riverdale, NY
Lovely Baroque Revival Mid Century Yardage from a high end upholsterer who carried a lot of Scalamandre textiles. On its original bolt, it is is marked 32-33 yards on end. Feels like...
Category
1940s American Baroque Revival Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Cotton
French Hand-Printed Tapestry in Medieval style - H 114 x L 97 cm - N° 1438
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
1980s French Medieval Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Elisabeth Baillon, Tapestry, the Lute Player, circa 1960, France
Located in Nice, Cote d
Azur
Elisabeth Baillon, Tapestry,
the lute player,
signed with brown thread in the left corner,
cotton,
circa 1960, France.
Good condition.
Height 6...
Category
1960s French Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Cotton
Ottoman Silk Red Tulip Hand Embroidered Suzani Tapestry
Located in London, GB
Suzani tapestries are a type of embroidered textile that originated in Central Asia, and were popular throughout the Ottoman Empire. These decorative textiles were hand-crafted by sk...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Suzani Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Silk
Mid-Century Modern Large Mountain Forest Landscape Tapestry Art Wall Hanging
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful and quite engaging large Mid-Century Modern tapestry/wall hanging. The piece appears to be made of yarn or wool using a hand latch hook technique. The piece features a ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Textile, Burlap, Yarn
Bobyrug’s Rare Antique Ottoman Silk and Metal Embroidery
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Beautiful late 19th century Turkish ottoman embroidery with nice design and green field color, entirely hand embroidered with golden metal on silk foundation.
✨✨✨
"Experience the ep...
Category
Late 19th Century Turkish Islamic Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Vintage 1960s Hand-Printed French Wall Tapestry in Wool Signed by J.C. Bissery
Located in COLMAR, FR
An exceptional and very rare wall tapestry from the 1960s in amazing condition. This large and stunning wall tapestry in wool has been designed and signed on the back by the French a...
Category
1960s French Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Vintage Tapestry Depicting Angels 6.8X5.10
Located in Los Angeles, US
A wall hanging tapestry, simply put, is a textile specifically designed and woven to portray an artistic scene with the intent of hanging it on a wall. Antique tapestries, those that...
Category
Early 2000s Unknown Empire Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Framed Large Pre-Columbian Textile with Tie Dye Design Wari Culture
Located in Atlanta, GA
A large Pre-Columbian textile fragment with geometrical tie dye motifs from Wari culture (circa 450 to 1000 AD), a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central An...
Category
15th Century and Earlier Peruvian Pre-Columbian Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Antique Beaded Ceremonial Dance Sarong (Lawo Butu) East Flores, Indonesia
Located in Point Richmond, CA
Antique Beaded Ceremonial Dance Sarong (Lawo Butu) East Flores, Indonesia
A rare beaded tube sarong from the Lio people in south eastern Flores, Indonesia, reportedly worn by young ...
Category
Late 19th Century Indonesian Tribal Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Beads
Textured macrame wall hanging, Spain, 1970s
Located in BARCELONA, ES
Superb macramé wall tapestry made in Spain in the 1970s. Large format. Handmade tapestry composed of different textures and materials creating unique patterns and reliefs. All the ro...
Category
1970s Spanish Hollywood Regency Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Pierre Adrien Chabal, Louis XVI Style Beauvais Tapestry Panel, France, C.1855
Located in Chatham, ON
PIERRE ADRIEN CHABAL-DUSSURGEY (1819-1902) Designer - BEAUVAIS TAPESTRY MANUFACTORY Maker - Important Antique Louis XVI style floral tapestry chair back - the floral tapestry finely woven in wool and silk threads with garlands and swags and tassels - all centered by a powder blue ground cartouche with white roses within an oval frame - suitable for framing - France - circa 1855.
Excellent antique condition - minor fading and loss - areas of wear/thinning - no apparent restoration - minor stains and soiling with signs of age and use.
Size/Dimensions - 20" (51 cm.) Wide x 19 1/2" (49.5 cm.) High.
PIERRE ADRIEN CHABAL-DUSSURGEY - born Pierre Adrien Chabal in 1819 in Charlieu and adopting the professional name of CHABAL-DUSSURGEY - well known for his paintings and studies of flowers in gouache and oils - attended the School of Fine Arts in Lyon - exhibited at the Paris and Lyon salons - he worked with the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory and the Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory after 1849 designing tapestries, rugs and tapestry covers for seating - he designed tapestries for the Élysée Palace and worked with Empress Eugenie on furnishings for the small salon at the Élysée Palace and two salons in the palace of the Empress in Biarritz - tapestry covered furniture...
Category
Mid-19th Century French Louis XVI Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Franco-Flemish 18th Century Figural Tapestry Allegorical to "Triumph
Love"
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A very fine baroque Franco-Flemish 18th century figural tapestry allegorical to triumph and love, depicting three maidens within a verdure backgro...
Category
18th Century Belgian Baroque Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
$38,450 Sale Price
48% Off
17th Century French Aubusson Mythological Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
A French Aubusson mythological tapestry from the 17th century, depicting the Spartan king, Menelaus, seated at left, sending his brother...
Category
17th Century French Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
$25,995 Sale Price
42% Off
Egyptian "Tree of Life" Tapestry, Influenced by the Ramses Wissa Wassef Workshop
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This remarkable weaving, using yarns in shades of pale purple, burnt umber, ruddy brown and deep blue, is a masterpiece of post-war Egyptian artisanry. It depicts a crowd of birds in and around a stylized tree and was influenced by the work of the famed Ramses Wissa Wassef...
Category
1950s Egyptian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Tapestry Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period 1738 at the Gobelins
Located in Madrid, ES
Tapestry from the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period , made in 1738 at the Gobelins
One panel from a series of Gobelins tapestries depicting the History of Esther, illustrating Esther seated and attended by handmaidens, one washing her feet in golden basin, another fastening a bracelet, another offering a mirror, all observed by Mordecai, woven in the workshop of Michele Audran after a design by J. F. de Troy.
The Toilet of Esther c.1778-85.Royal Collection Trust-Queens Audience Chamber
Windsor Castle
The Sketches for the Esther Cycle by Jean-François de Troy (1736)
“and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mor’decai, ..., took for his own daughter.” (Est. 2:7)
A supple and undulating genius, both a flattering portraitist and a prolix history painter, as well as a brilliant genre painter, in a gallant or worldly vein, Jean-François de Troy (Paris, 1679 – Rome, 1752), solicited, although he had passed the threshold of old age, a new royal commission up to his ambitions. To obtain it, he submitted – successfully - for the approval of the Bâtiments du roi (administration), seven modelli painted in 1736 with his usual alacrity.
Inspired by one of the most novelistic texts of the Old Testament, the Book of Esther, these sketches in a rapid and virtuoso manner were transformed by the artist, between 1737 and 1740 into large cartoons intended to serve as models for the weavers of the Gobelins factory. Showing undeniable ease and skill in the composition in perfect harmony with the sensitivities of the times, the tapestry set met with great success.
The Story of Esther perfectly corresponded to the plan of the Bâtiments du roi to renew the repertoire of tapestry models used for the weavers of the royal factories while it also conformed to the tastes of Louis XV’s subjects for a fantastical Orient, the set for a dramatic tale in which splendour, love and death were combined. Indeed, no tapestry set was woven in France during the 18th century as often as that of Esther.
The series of modelli painted by de Troy during the year 1736 looks to the history of French painting and decoration under Louis XV as much as it does the history of the Gobelins. It probably counts among the most important rococo pictorial groups to have remained in private hands. First the Biblical source illustrated by De Troy which constitutes the base of one of the richest iconographical traditions of Western art will be considered. Then the circumstances and specific character of French civilisation during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV which contributed to making the theme of Esther a relevant subject, both attractive to contemporaries and remarkably in line with the sensitivities of the time will be elucidated.
An examination of the exceptional series of sketches united here, the cartoons and the tapestries that they anticipate as well as a study of their reception will close this essay. The Book of Esther: A scriptural source at the source of rich iconography.
The origin of the Esther tapestry set by Jean-François de Troy – origin and creation of a masterpiece
According to the evidence of one of the artist’s early biographers, the chevalier de Valory, author of a posthumous elegy of the master, read at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 6 February 1762, it was apparently due to early16 rivalry with François Lemoyne (1688-1737), his younger colleague who had precisely just been appointed First Painter to the King in 1736, that had encouraged François de Troy to seek a commission allowing him to show off his ease and his promptitude at the expense of a rival who was notoriously laborious: “M. De Troy, retaining some resentment of the kind of disadvantage which he believed to have suffered compared with his emulator looked to regain some territory by making use of the facility his rival did not possess.
Lemoyne was excessively long in the creation of his works,and M. De Troy of a rare celerity: consequently, with this particular talent, the latter offered to the court to make paintings appropriate to be executed at the Gobelins Factory; and it is to this circumstance that we owe the beautiful series of the Story of Esther, which would be sufficient alone to give him a great reputation.”17 Beyond the suspicion inspired by the topos, which still constitutes, more or less, a tale of rivalries between artists in ancient literature, there is probably some truth in what Valory reports although A.-J. Dezalier d’Argenville (who indicates rather spitefully that de Troy did not hesitate to “cut prices” to impose himself, benefitting from the productivity assured by the unlikely rapidity of his brush)18 proves to be more evasive: “As he looked to busy himself, he had offered to make the paintings that serve as models for the King’s tapestries cheaply: which did not please his colleagues.
He was given a choice of two tapestry series to be made and he took the Story of Esther and that of Jason”.19 Whether or not the choice was actually left to de Troy (which would appear rather casual on the royal administration’s part all the same), it seems likely that the artist, whose contemporaries extol his “fire”, as the faculty of invention was then called, must have ardently aspired to the possibility of using on a very large scale the “creative genius” with which Dezallier d’Argenville credits him. The decoration of the private apartments, the fashion for which Louis XV had promoted at Versailles and Fontainebleau, offered little opportunity to excel in this area. Other than painting for altarpieces, only tapestries could allow comparison with Lemoyne who had been granted – unfortunately for him – a major decoration: the enormous ceiling of the Hercules Room at Versailles. Favoured by the recent improvement in France’s financial situation, the revival of patronage offered de Troy a commission fitting for him, in a field in which, however, he had hardly any experience.
Anxious to renew the repertoire of models available to the Gobelins factory, the Duc d’Antin, surintendant des Bâtiments du roi from 1708 to 1736 followed by his successor, Philibert Orry comte de Vignory, gave him the task of producing seven large cartoons inspired by the Book of Esther corresponding to the brilliant sketches or modelli which de Troy had produced in one go, or almost (very few preparatory drawings can in fact be linked to the Esther cycle and all seem to be at the execution stage of the cartoons).20 Subjected to the approval of the Administration des Bâtiments according to the procedure in use for projects being planned for the Gobelins, sketches made rapidly during 1736 were approved and the project launched immediately. Thereupon came the news of François Lemoyne’s death, who, ground down by work and a victim of his private torment, committed suicide on 4 June 1737.
Against all expectations, de Troy did not replace his rival in the position of First Painter (which remained vacant until the appointment of Charles Coypel in January 1747), which would perhaps have made him too obviously the beneficiary of the drama. The awarding of the position of Director of the French Academy in Rome came to console him while he had already produced (or he was in the process of finishing), in Paris, three of the seven cartoons of the cycle (The Fainting of Esther finished in 1737 and the Toilet and Coronation of Esther, both finished in 1738).
De Troy, we can see, did not follow the order of the narrative but began with the subjects which apparently offered the least difficulty because he had already depicted them, or because they fall into a strong pictorial tradition (such is the case especially for the Fainting of Esther). He had hardly settled at the Palazzo Mancini in August 1738, when his first task which awaited the new director of the French Academy naturally consisted of honouring the royal commission and finishing without delay the final cartoons of the Story of Esther after the sketches he must have taken with him. As prompt as ever, de Troy discharged himself of the execution of the four remaining cartoons in only two years, by beginning with the largest format which allowed him to strike the imagination and to impose himself as soon as he arrived on the Roman stage: the Triumph of Mor’decai which was finished in 1739 (like Esther’s Banquet).
The following year, the Mor’decai's Disdain and The Sentencing of Haman were brought to an end in the same Neo-Venetian style, obviously tributary to Veronese with its choice of “open” monumental architecture which is characteristic of the entire cycle.21 The series, it should be noted, was almost augmented with some additional scenes in the mid 1740s. Indeed, the first tapestry set finished at the Gobelins in 1744 proved to be unsuitable for the arrangement of the Dauphine’s apartments at Versailles for which it had been intended to decorate the walls the following year (cf infra). Informed of this, de Troy, considering that the story of Esther offered “several good subjects,” immediately offered to illustrate one or new subject among those “which could appear to be the most interesting”.
The directeur des Bâtiments Orry, who managed the State’s accounts, obviously judged it less costly to have one of the tapestries widened to fill in the end of the Dauphine’s bedroom,22 which has probably deprived us of very original compositions, because de Troy had already illustrated the most famous themes, those that benefitted from a strongly established iconographical tradition and from which it was not easy to deviate
The Tapestry Set of the Story of Esther
Placed on the tapestry looms of the Gobelins at the end of the 1730s in Michel Audran’s workshop, the cycle created by de Troy aroused true infatuation. The few hundred tapestries made between 1738 and 1797 – all in high-warp tapestry and woven in wool and silk except for four in low-warp made in Neilson’s workshop – show the impressive success of a tapestry set that was without any doubt the most frequently woven of the 18th century in France.
29 Only three cartoons had been delivered by de Troy in 1738 when the first tapestry set was begun by Audran under the expert eye of Jean-Baptiste Oudry to whom the Directeur général des bâtiments, Philibert Orry had assigned the (weekly) supervision of the weaving. During the summer of 1738, the piece of the Fainting of Esther, which Oudry judged to be admirable, was finished.
During the winter of 1742, Oudry informed Orry that about two ells of the Triumph of Mor’decai had been made “with no faults”,that the Coronation of Esther was finished and that the Esther at her Toilet “a very gracious tapestry” was “a little over half” finished. Exhibited at Versailles in 1743, these two last pieces were admired by Louis XV and the Court.
On 3 December 1744, the set of seven tapestries was finally delivered to the Garde Meuble. It was intended, the honour was not slight, to decorate the apartments of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain whose marriage to the young Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand had been fixed for the following year (it took place on 23 February 1745). Apparently it was thought that the theme of Esther the biblical heroine and wife of a foreign sovereign was appropriate for the apartments of the Spanish Dauphine.
As early as the month of March, the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel informed de Troy that her grand cabinet was decorated with the “Esther tapestry set” specifying however that “for lack of two small or one large piece, we have not been able to decorate the end of the room”. This difficulty led immediately to the Banquet episode being woven a second time in two parts (they were delivered to the Garde-Meuble on 30 December 1746) to garnish the panels on each side of the bed of the Dauphine who would hardly enjoy them (she died on 22 July 1746 and the decoration was installed for the new Dauphine Maria Josepha of Saxony).
The appearance of the set’s remarkable border, which imitated a richly sculpted wooden frame, should be mentioned. Conceived in 1738 by the ornamentalist Pierre Josse-Perrot and used in the later weavings until 1768, it tended to reinforce the resolutely painterly appearance of the tapestry set which, in this regard, pushed the art of tapestry as far as its ultimate mimetic possibilities. With the exception of Mor’decai's Disdain which had been removed earlier, the “editio princeps” of the story of Esther (from then on in nine pieces) remained at Versailles until the Revolution. Of the eight surviving tapestries, four are at the chateau of Compiègne and four belong today to the Mobilier National. No less than seven tapestry sets reputed to be complete (one of them in fact only had six tapestries) would be produced officially at the Gobelins up to 1772.
Literature:
1- The Œuvres mêlées of an emulator of Racine, the Abbé Augustin NADAL thus include an Esther. Divertissement spiritual which is exactly contemporary with Jean François de Troy’s cycle since it was performed in 1735 and published in Paris three years later.
2-Le Siècle de Louis XIV, 1751, 1785 ed., p. 96-97 for French ed.
3- Lemoyne and de Troy had been obliged to share the First Prize in the competition organised in 1727 between the most prominent history painters of the Académie Royale.
4- Mémoires…, pub. L. DUSSIEUX et al., 1854, II, p.265.
5-The fact that de Troy, at the risk of falling out with his colleagues, did not hesitate to make use of prices in order to convince the new directeur des Bâtiments Philibert Orry, is confirmed by Mariette who adds tersely “it caused much shouting” (pub. 1851-1860, II, p. 103).
6- Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres…, ed. 1762, IV, p. 368-369 20 Early comments on the painter are inclined to present him as a kind of “pure painter”, doing without the medium of drawing, a few intermediary studies between the Esther sketches and the large cartoons at the Louvre nevertheless show that de Troy used red chalk (see in the catalogue, the notice for the Meal of Esther and Ahasuerus under the entry drawing) to change one or other figure.
7-C. GASTINEL-COURAL (cat. exp. PARIS, 1985, p. 9-13) as well as the article by J. VITTET, exh. cat. LA ROCHE-GUYON, 2001, p. 51-55.
8-The Hermitage in St. Petersburg conserves five tapestries of these two royal gifts whose provenance still awaits elucidation (as far as we are aware). In 1766, the Grand Marshal of Russia, Count Razumovski (or Razamowski), acquired the Fainting and the Banquet extracted from the sixth weaving (J. VITTET, 2001, p. 53).
9- Lettres écrites de Suisse, d’Italie…,quoted by J. VITTET, op. cit., p. 54.
10-The tapestry set remained in the hands of a branch of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family until 1933 (ibid. P. 54).
11-Quoted by Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, p. 97, note 269.
12-Y. CANTAREL-BESSON, 1992, p. 241.
Catalogue
The Esther at her Toilet
Oil on canvas, 57 x 51 cm Provenance: Painted in 1736 at the same time as the six other modelli of the Story of Esther intended to be presented, for approval, to the direction des Bâtiments du Roi; perhaps identifiable among a lot of sketches by Jean-François de Troy in the post mortem inventory of the amateur, historian and critic Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786) drawn up on 13 January 1786 and following days (A.N. T 978, n° 30) then in the sale of the property of the deceased, Paris, 12 June 1786, n° 33; Paris, François Marcille Collection (who owned a series of six sketches from which the Triumph of Mor’decai was missing, see infra); Paris, Marcille Sale, Hôtel Drouot, 12-13 January 1857, n° 36; Asnières, Mme de Chavanne de Palmassy ( ?) collection; Paris, Galerie Cailleux; Paris, Humbert de Wendel collection (acquired from the Galerie Cailleux in 1928); by inheritance in the same family; Paris, Sotheby’s, 23 June 2011, n° 61. In order not to add unnecessarily to the technical commentary on each work, the catalogue raisonné by Chr. Leribault which contains a substantial bibliography on the series should be referred to. The other bibliographical references only concern the publications and exhibitions to have appeared and been presented more recently. Bibliography and Exhibitions: Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, n° P. 247 (repr.); E. LIMARDO DATURI, 2004, p. 28; Exh. cat. NANTES, 2011, p. 138, n° 34, referred to in note 1; Sotheby’s catalogue, Tableaux anciens et du XIXe siècle, 23 June 2011, n° 61 (repr.).
Related Works:
Tapestry cartoon: The cartoon (oil on canvas, 329 x 320 cm), the third made by the artist in Paris after the sketches had been approved by the direction des Bâtiments, is in the Louvre (Inv. 8315). It previously bore the painter’s signature and the date 1738 (inscriptions which are found on the tapestries). The royal administration paid 1600 livres for it on 21 June 1738 and it was exhibited at the Salon in the year of its creation.
Summary Biography
1679 (27 January): Baptism in Paris (Parish of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet) of Jean-François de Troy, son of the painter François de Troy and Jeanne Cotelle, sister of the painter Jean II Cotelle.
1696-1698: Studies (apparently rather turbulent) at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture.
1698-1708: First trip to Italy. Is obliged to leave Rome in January 1711 after a tempestuous affair (a duel?), de Troy extends the traditional Roman experience as a pensionnaire at the Académie de France by also visiting Tuscany where he stays for a long time, Venice (his art in face has a strongly Venetian character) and Genoa.
1708: De Troy (whose father had been elected Director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 7 July) is agréé and immediately received at the Académie with Apollo and Diana Piercing with their Arrows the Children of Niobe (Montpellier, Musée Fabre) on 28 July.
1710: First royal commission, paid for on 10 May (a sketch representing “the Promotion of the Order of the Holy Spirit” for the tapestry series of the History of the King).
1716: Jean-François de Troy is elected Assistant Professor at the Academy.
1720: He is appointed Professor.
1723: The artist creates the double portrait of Louis XV...
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