Western European Rugs

Antique French Aubusson rug, circa 1890. Aubusson carpets are pile less and tapestry woven from that town to the southwest of Paris, by a group of independent weavers working under Royal or State protection. The designs are strictly classical, neoclassical or Victorian. They are virtually never “oriental”. The pattern wefts are wool with silk and/or metal thread for details in the more finely woven examples. Sizes tend toward the squarish and pieces 30’ by 30’ are not unknown. The 18th-19th century French clients included the nobility and haute bourgeoisie. Aubusson carpets were also exported to England and are often to be found in country houses. Light colors are the most popular and dark toned pieces are very rare. Besides traditional Louis furniture...

"Exquisite late 20th-century French tapestry featuring the enchanting design 'VERDURE AU MOULIN' after François Boucher. Capturing nature in its most picturesque form, adorned with p...

An exceptional rug made in Aubusson, by Maurice André, France 1950. This Post-modern, Forme-Libre, Geometrical Abstraction, piece is made in thick wool i...

'Mis-Shapes' Contemporary irregular abstract shape hand-tufted Viscose wool rug. A combination of neatness and abstraction. A fluid patterns and shades of primary colors from vibra...

Very beautiful late 19th century Aubusson tapestry originally made for covering the seat of an antique sofa with a beautiful floral design and nice natural colours, entirely and fine...

A French Aubusson rustic tapestry from the late 17th century, depicting several villagers on either side of a large tree in the right foreground, watching the cargo being unloaded from a large vessel docked by the verdant river bank at left, with the turbulent sea at center, and other ships docked by the riverside cityscape in the left distance. Enclosed by a narrow monochromatic border. Wool with silk inlay. Measures: 10’1” H x 13’9” W This tapestry was probably woven after a design by the French painter Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), renowned for his Marines, or maybe by his student Charles Grenier de Lacroix also known as Lacroix de Marseille...

Nice mid-century French Aubusson style tapestry with beautiful gallant scene at the town and beautiful light colors, mechanical Jaquar manufacturing woven with wool and cotton. ✨✨✨ ...

An early 20th Century Northwest Persian Conversational Animal Pictorial Runner. Details rug no. j2802 size 2' 7" x 12' 5" (79 x 378 cm)

Rya Rug in Blue and Green. Vibrant Colors still look great! Rug does not show much wear at all! Back side shows some discoloration. Canvas bindings still in place at each end.

A vintage Italian Art Deco rug from the mid-20th century. A true oddity. Brown and black leather squares alternate in a chessboard (checkerboard) ...

cc-tapis launches the Les Arcs Collection by French designer and architect Charlotte Perriand featuring 5 new rug designs and unseen archives in an all-encompassing exhibition curated by Dan Thawley, editor in chief of magazine “A magazine curated by...

The Zoom carpet, designed by Camilla Bellini for Sitap Carpet Couture Italia, combines wool and viscose in a floral-inspired, stylized pattern with a striking three-dimensional effec...

Very beautiful and rare 17th century French Aubusson tapestry with a nice design in style of Louis XVI, featuring a historical battle probably from Alexander or a Roman battle, conqu...

Round rug made in the space age period Made in Italy in the 70s

"Experience the timeless elegance of this exquisite French Aubusson style tapestry, capturing the essence of an 15th century tapestry with a design titled « bord de L’eau » (water's...

Very pretty mid century french Aubusson style tapestry with beautiful design from the painter « Francisco de Goya (1775-1792) for the royal manufactury of Tapestry » Tapestry crafte...

Rya rug by Ib Antoni (“the national illustrator of Denmark”) for Unika Væv 75" x 54". 100% wool. Clean and fluffy. Professionally restored. Vibrant tones of blue and green. Original ...

Lineal Flow, 'Axiom' collection by Linie Design Rectangular handmade rug. Materials: 85% New Zealand Wool / 15% Silk Hand knotted rug Dimensions: 170 cm x 240 cm An artistic and ...

A French tapestry from the end of the 17th century, incorporating verdure and rustic elements, with a romantic scene on the foreground of two young men pulling a young girl's swing. The scene takes place in a woodland environment, with trees in the foreground. Enclosed within a trompe l'oeil border, decorated with head flowers. Wool with silk inlay. Hanging: The tapestry comes ready for hanging, with linen backing and a strip of hook and loop tape at the top end, which can be connected to the opposite side of the supplied hook and loop tape, which could be tacked to your wall. For those who prefer the use of a tapestry rod, we can add the appropriate size loops to accommodate your needs. We now have a large selection of antique tapestry rods available as well, which we can provide detail upon request. Associated Words and Descriptions: accessory, antique, antiques, antique rug, antique carpet, antique tapestry, carpet, carpets, cleaning, classic oriental rugs, collectibles, collector items, collector piece, decor, decorative accessory, decorative item, decorative rug, decorator, design, designer, europe, european, farsh, fine, fine antique decorative rugs and carpets, floor covering, floral, geometric, ghali, hali, hand knotted, hand made, hand woven, home decor, home design, interior decor, interior decorator, interior design, interior designer, iran, iranian carpets...

Boasting soothing hues of green and heart tones, this superb rug was designed by Studio Solaris and is part of the Selce Collection. Its unconventional silhouette features a juxtapos...

Authentic stand-alone pillow made from a 19th-century French Aubusson rug Measures: 16" x 16"

A collection that celebrates traditional Scandinavian women’s craftsmanship, inspired by Swedish folk traditions in a modern contemporary interpretation. With its patterns and techni...

A phenomenal Persian Mahal/Sultanabad Carpet woven by the Swiss firm, Ziegler & Co. What makes this rug outstanding is that its Predominantly green, 8'2'' x 10' In the late 1800s...

Antique French Savonnerie Rug Size: 8'4" × 14'1" (254 × 429 cm). Color: beige, blue, brown, gold, green, pink, purple. This exquisite French Savonnerie rug from the early 20th centur...

100% Wool Hand Knotted Rug in the style of Le Corbusier.

20th Century Swedish rag rug. Featuring a stripe design in multiple tones. This rug is machine washable at 30 degrees. RT6024588

Handwoven in the cc-tapis atelier in Kathmandu, Nepal. The rug is made with a cotton weave, Himalayan wool and bamboo silk pile coming from the areas surrounding the atelier. The sal...

Vintage French Aubusson flat weave wool rug with a tropical fruit and flowers motif with monkeys! No stains, holes, tears, etc. Slightly off plumb. Ready for use. 103" x 68" **FRE...

Antique French Gobelins Tapestry Rug Size: 11'8" × 13'5" (355 × 408 cm) This magnificent 18th-century French Gobelins tapestry rug exemplifies the ...

Eileen Gray created not only some of the most important furniture classics of the 20th century but also had her own studio where rugs were produced according to her designs: masterpieces of abstract textile art made of 100% pure new wool, hand knotted and processed to the highest quality. Designed for the Salon of the Villa E1027, the Centimetre Rug...

an early 20th-century Spanish Savonnerrie Rug Details rug no. 10785 size 11' 7" x 15' 1" (353 x 460 cm

Nice mid century French Aubusson style Cogolin rug with beautiful floral design and nice colours , entirely hand knotted with wool on cotton foundation ✨✨✨ "Experience the epitome ...

Concert Champêtre ( country concert ) Very beautiful mid century French Aubusson style tapestry with a beautiful 15th century tapestries design showing a scene in the countryside, ou...

An extremely rare Art Deco rug designed in 1925 by Jean Burkhalter and commissioned by Pierre Chareau for a seaside mansion on the island of Corsica....

Handwoven in wool, this 8x10 Flemish Verdure tapestry from the late 17th Century is a rare and special new curation from Rug & Kilim—featuring a particularly popular aesthetic with l...

very beautiful Aubusson style tapestry, with a design of a medieval tapestry representing « deer chase» (poursuite du cerf), with Beautiful colours with green background, pink, yell...

Beautiful textile art square size vintage Art Deco French tapestry, country of origin / Type: French, circa date 1930's. Size: 5 ft 9 in x 6 f...

An Ege Rya mid century area rug. This gorgeous Danish Rya rug boasts a beautiful blue gradient design with a blue base leading into a yellow center...

This stunning rare original rug dates from 1989 and has the Missoni signature and date woven into the corner. In pure wool and full of colour and geometric patterns it is certain to ...

Pretty 19th century French tapestry cardboard with a nice design of swing game featuring a young man standing pushing a young girl sitting on the swing. At a setting in the woods, be...

The embroidery is in rather good condition and seems to been on a frame before my possession of the piece.

77205 Vintage French Aubusson Floral Trellis Needlepoint Chinese Rug with Chintz Style. Drawing inspiration from Mario Buatta and Chintz style, thi...

Custom hand knotted rug based on the painting “Composition VIII” by Bauhaus master painter Wassily Kandinsky. Rug size (listed here): 280 x 200 cm / 9.2 x 6.6 ft Material: fine wool. Quality: Tibetan handknotted in 150 knots per square inch. Very exact translation of the original artwork as a handknotted rug, created by weaving approx. 1.3 million knots per hand or the rug in the listed size. Approx. 230 000 handmade knots per square meter. Colors: 26 custom-dyed colors. Main colors in the rug: warm base in ivory cream and abstract composition in the main colours dark orchid purple, sky blue and steel blue, golden yellow, maroon brown and saddle brown, firebrick red and dark sea green. Sustainable and certified fair-trade artisanal production. Label Step fair-trade partners. This elegant, lively rug is made entirely by hand using traditional weaving techniques. Numbered limited edition of maximum 100 fine handmade rugs with this art piece. Each rug comes with a sewn-on label with an image of the artist’s signature and numbered by hand, per order. This beautiful rug can also be ordered in even more luxurious materials like pure silk or mohair, and in plant-based materials like Tencel and linen. A combination of materials is possible as well. Production time may increase for these options, depending on material availability. Production time for this rug is between is approximately 12-14 weeks. For environmental reasons and to provide our full bespoke service, our rugs are always made to order. -- About the artwork on which this rug is based: “Composition VIII”: Wassily Kandinsky created “Composition VIII” in 1923. The painting represents the Kandinsky’s transition from his Munich style of Expressionism to abstract geometric form and structure and is considered a peak in his work during that period. “Composition VIII” is characterized by the use of tools such as compasses and rulers to draw circular and parallel-linear geometric shapes. This technique was influenced by the Russian painter Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko...

Rug in Napoleon III style, Aubusson factory - 2m70x3m70 - No. 1527 Period: 20th century Style: Napoleon III Condition: Perfect condition Material: Wool Length: 270 cm Width: 370 cm D...

"Discover the timeless elegance of this exquisite vintage French tapestry featuring a galant scene. Elevate your space with the charm of this beautifully crafted and woven tapestry,...

Beautiful late 19th century needlepoint tapestry in the form of a stripe or border fragment, with nice floral design and beautiful colours, entirely hand embroidered with needlepoint...

Introducing the Onda Rug in Russet, a breathtaking masterpiece that will ignite your senses and elevate the very essence of your living space. With its rich, ...

Nice french tapestry with beautiful gallant scenes with lovers on the beach and nice colors, mechanical Jaquar manufacturing with wool and cotton. ✨✨✨ "Experience the epitome of lux...

53946 Vintage Greek Natural Flokati Rug, 05'10 x 06'10. Greek Flokati rugs are traditional handwoven wool rugs made in the region of Epirus, Greece, known ...

Eileen Gray created not only some of the most important furniture classics of the 20th century but also had her own studio where rugs were produced according to her designs. Some of ...

This distinctive rug by Carine Boxy is crafted from a mix of natural animal skins, including soft sheepskin, and showcases a striking interplay of textures and tones. Bright orange a...

Attention interior designers, this is the large rug you need for that high-profile cover-worthy room you're working on. This signed Missoni rug is from the 1980s Italy and in an oh-s...

Very beautiful antique french hand printed tapestry with nice design of Jean Lurçat, with a signature printed on the design of the tapestr...

Hey Archie Rug is made with a combination of pink blush, green and a touch of maroon. Original designed by Rannisa Soraya RAG Home Jakarta Hand-tufted carpet with mixed carving embo...

Antique English Axminster Rug Size: 10'2" × 14'0" (309 × 426 cm) This exquisite Antique Axminster rug, woven in England around 1910, showcases the timeless elegance and craftsmanship...

Hand knotted in the cc-tapis atelier in Kathmandu, Nepal. The rug is made with a cotton weave, dark and light undyed Himalayan wool pile, coming from the areas surrounding the atelie...

French Art Deco Needlepoint Carpet by Atelier Martine / Paul Poiret 13' x 15'10'' - 396 x 483

Article: High pile Rya rug Decade: 1960s Origin: Scandinavia Sweden Material: 100% wool This rug is a great example of 1960s pop art interior. Made in high quality Rya ...

Pretty vintage Aubusson style tapestry with beautiful gallant design at beach with beautiful colors, woven with wool and cotton with mechanical Jaquar manufacturing. ✨✨✨ "Experience...

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...