Western European Rugs
to
1,117
Width
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Length
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4,113
3,719
87
2,340
464
453
157
116
38
37
33
29
22
11
11
9
9
9
8
7
2
406
653
2,660
4,200
710
1,262
546
83
48
139
86
67
123
161
152
76
102
7,301
6,370
1,259
849
257
3,785
3,523
7,919
5,026
5,705
4,966
2,693
1,939
1,699
1,234
547
301
176
121
103
Western European Rugs For Sale
Botanical Green Rug Art Nouveau Carpet Aubusson Rug Handwoven Wool Needlepoint
Located in Wembley, GB
This fantastic area rug has been handwoven with a beautiful symmetrical large-scale botanical Rug design woven on an ivory blue/ Green background with accents of cream green and ivor...
Category
1990s English Aubusson Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Cotton, Organic Material
Early 20th Century French Round Savonnerie Carpet ( 20' R - 610 R )
Located in New York, NY
Large, round antique high pile Savonneries carpets are rare. The four-layer round medallion shows a rosette, laurel leaves and ribbons, and loops, on a tan ground decorated with bask...
Category
Early 1900s French Aubusson Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Mid-20th Century Belgian Art Deco Room Size Carpet
Located in New York, NY
A Vintage Belgian Art Deco room size carpet handmade during the Mid-20th century.
Measures: 11' 2" x 14' 6"
Category
Mid-20th Century Belgian Art Deco Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Swedish Grace Art Deco Wool Short Pile Carpet by Martha Gahn
By Märtha Gahn
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Portman Gallery is pleased to offer a 1930s Swedish short knotted pile carpet by Martha Gahn.
An exemplary Swedish Grace, as art deco was called ther...
Category
Early 20th Century Swedish Art Deco Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Scandinavian-style rug by Samit Borgosesia, Italy, 1970s
Located in Firenze, FI
A carpet 182 cm. in diameter, worked in Scandinavian style, the background is in a soft beige, a choice that enhances the softness of the pure New Zealand wool of which it is made. I...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
French Art Deco Rug Doris Leslie Blau
Located in New York, NY
French Art Deco Rug
Size: 11'2" × 14'8" (340 × 447 cm)
A remarkable vintage rug, from Doris Leslie Blau Collection, features a timeless elegance. This vintage French Art Deco rug fea...
Category
Early 20th Century French Art Deco Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Mid-17th Century Flemish Tourani Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
Mid-17th Century Flemish Tourani Tapestry
2'9" x 7' - 84 x 213
Category
1650s Belgian Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Modern Handwoven Jute Carpet Rug Ivory
By Kilombo Home
Located in Madrid, ES
This jute rug has been ethically hand woven in the finest jute yarns by artisans in Northern India, using a traditional weaving technique of this area.
Each rug is handwoven with irr...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Jute
Ginormous Matyo Embroidery from Hungary, early 20th C.
Located in Istanbul, TR
This is an unusually large Matyo embroidery that has a heavy enough body to go on a floor.
Category
Early 20th Century Hungarian Western European Rugs
Materials
Silk
Mid-Century Modern Rug Finlandia with Nordic Traditional Symbols, Germany 1970s
Located in Beograd, RS
In this listing you will find a round Mid-Century Modern area rug, featuring traditional Nordic symbols. The rug was manufactured by Teppich Siegel, large German rug...
Category
1970s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Western European Rugs
Materials
Polyester
Pretty fine large antique french Aubusson tapestry
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Very beautiful late 19th century French Aubusson tapestry with a nice design of a village, with nature, trees, birds, a river, chickens. a mill on the edge of the river, village hous...
Category
Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Silk
Pink Opaque Abstract Oval Shape Hand Tufted Wool Rug Pastel Colours by RAG Home
By RAG home
Located in Jakarta Selatan, ID
Pink opaque
To fly away like a kite in the sky? Ain't that the fantasy. To have a piece of said fantasy in technicolor? This rug will fulfil that dream to...
Category
2010s Indonesian Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Outstanding Art Deco Chinese Rug with Cubist Border by Nichols & Co.
By Nichols
Located in Milan, IT
Only a very limited group of the carpets woven during the thirties at the Tianjin city looms are decorated by geometric patterns typical of the Art Deco period. Some of these rare pi...
Category
1930s Chinese Art Deco Vintage Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Beautiful 1960s French Hand Knotted Rug Signed Jacques Borker
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Wonderful original French mid-20th century modern rug, with beautiful abstract design and nice colors with pink, yellow, black, blue and green, entirely hand knotted with wool velvet...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Garden, Jean Picart Le Doux - Moderne Signed French Carpet Rug - N° 1487
Located in Paris, FR
Garden, Jean Picart Le Doux
Modern French Rug
This rug is Signed with Bolduc on the back, Dimension 200x300
Rare and Very Beautiful wool rug with exotic foliage patterns
Limited edi...
Category
20th Century Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Doris Leslie Blau 19th Century Donegal by Cfa Voysey Fragment Rug
Located in New York, NY
19th Century Donegal by Cfa Voysey Fragment Rug
Size: 3'0" × 3'7" (91 × 109 cm)
A rare and remarkable Donegal by C.F.A. Voysey fragment rug, hand made in the 1880s. It is in excellen...
Category
Late 19th Century British Arts and Crafts Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Gianni Versace Atelier Rug Wool & Silk Hand Knotted RARE Size 5' 5" x 3' 2" ft
Located in Long Island, NY
Gianni Versace Atelier Rug .All Hand Knotted in Wool and Silk . Rare piece .
Category
1990s Italian Baroque Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Silk
Doris Leslie Blau Authentic French Art Deco Brown Handwoven Wool Rug
Located in New York, NY
Authentic French Art Deco brown handwoven wool rug
Size: 11'6" × 14'6" (350 × 441 cm)
Authentic and absolutely classy, this vintage Deco rug is indisputably the crème de la crème of ...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Art Deco Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Alice Crawley Bamboo Forrest Wool Rug Blue
Located in Stockholm, SE
Alice Crawley Bamboo Wool Rug is part of the design collaboration Alice Crawley x LAYERED. The rugs are made of 100% wool with a cut pile for a sharp and clean finish. The colors hav...
Category
2010s Indian Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Evelina Kroon Berry Rain Wool Rug
Located in Stockholm, SE
In collaboration with renowned Scandinavian artist Evelina Kroon, Layered introduces a collection that explores the boundary between art and interior design. With references to tradi...
Category
2010s Indian Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Doris Leslie Blau Mid-20th Century French Art Deco Handmade Wool Rug
Located in New York, NY
Mid-20th Century French Art Deco handmade wool rug
Size: 6'0" x 7'0" (183 × 213 cm)
Elegance offered by deco rugs cannot be found anywhere else. Inspired by the newest trends in inte...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Art Deco Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Handmade Carpet Rare Antique Rugs, English Axminster Art Deco Rug
Located in Wembley, GB
Antique English Axminster handmade carpet is very famous as English designer rug in excellent condition, circa 1880s.
This red rug is kind of traditional patterned rugs has a most elegant design with attractive color combinations. And is a very good idea as a large living room rugs or dining room rugs. These large area rugs have very highly recommended by the interior designer as a luxury rug. And getting more attention in the Oriental rug store by clients.
Handmade carpet rare antique rugs...
Category
1880s English Art Deco Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Cotton, Organic Material
21th Century Modern Minimal White Round Rug Organic Black Pattern
Located in Porto, PT
Contemporary Minimal White Round Rug with Organic Black Pattern
The Coffee Round Rug is rich and captivating, exuding a deep, bewitching warmth that envelops your space in a comfort...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Synthetic, Natural Fiber
17th century Antique Aubusson/Gobelin tapestry, France Architectural land, silk
Located in Berlin, DE
17th century Antique Aubusson/Gobelin tapestry, France Architectural landscape, silk
Antique Museal Aubosson tapestry made of silk and partly wool. Very fine and antique design. Dep...
Category
17th Century French Baroque Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Silk
Black and Cream Postmodern Round Customizable Rug Large
By Art Hide
Located in Charlotte, NC
Tuxedo’s black-and-cream pairing is inspired by Carine Roitfeld's Paris apartment. A softer, stylish take on classic black-and-white, the Tuxedo rug balances jet Black with natural Cream and Caramel hides within its Postmodernist pattern.
The Tuxedo is stitched together using commercial grade nylon thread and features a branded ribbon edge finish. It can easily be customized to any colour, size or shape.
The Altro Mondo Collection...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pakistani Art Deco Western European Rugs
Materials
Cowhide
Irregular Shape Hand-Tufted Wool Rug ' Las Vegas or Heaven ' by RAG Home
Located in Jakarta Selatan, ID
' Las Vegas or Heaven '
Irregular shape hand-tufted wool rug by RAG home
A rug reminiscent of the colourful street that is Las Vegas' main strip, an interpretation of our abstract ideas of wanderlust and the heavenly neon lights that is synonymous with Sin City...
Category
2010s Indonesian Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
No. 2 Danish Modern Pop Art Wool Rya Rug by Hojer Eksport Wilton, 1960s, Denmark
Located in Kirchlengern, DE
Article:
high pile rya rug
Origin:
Denmark
Producer:
Hojer Eksport Wilton, Denmark
Description:
this rug is a great example of 60s pop art interior. made in high quali...
Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Vintage French Aubusson Rug with Regal Romantic Rococo Style
Located in Dallas, TX
77610, vintage French Aubusson rug with Regal Romantic Rococo style. Flourishing in technique and trend from the middle of the 17th century...
Category
Late 20th Century French Aubusson Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Zabihi Collection Lion Motif Northwest Persian Long Runner
Located in New York, NY
An early 20th Century Northwest Persian Conversational Animal Pictorial Runner.
Details
rug no. j2802
size 2' 7" x 12' 5" (79 x 378 cm)
Category
Early 20th Century Persian Folk Art Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Patricia Urquiola Rigadino Large Rug by Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Patricia Urquiola Rigadino Large Rug
Manufactured by Cassina
NONCONFORMIST ELEGANCE
With Rigadino, Patricia Urquiola designs a contribution of nonconformist elegance inspired by h...
Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Luxury Natural Shape Hand-Dyed European Sheepskin Rust Large Rug by Carine Boxy
Located in Geneve, CH
Luxury Natural Shape Hand-Dyed European Sheepskin Rust Large Rug by Carine Boxy
Dimensions: 290-300 cm
Materials: Naturally dyed sheepskin.
Size and color can be customized upon requ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Vintage Leleu French Art Deco Rug with Geometric Pattern Rug & Kilim
Located in Long Island City, NY
Made with hand-knotted wool in France circa 1930-1940, this 3x5 vintage French Art Deco rug is an extremely collectible original from Leleu Decorateur—the work of an iconic family la...
Category
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Late 19th Century French Aubusson Tapestry Panel
Located in New York, NY
A French Aubusson verdure tapestry panel from the late 19th century, depicting a heron in front of a lake, surrounded by foliage and with a cottage in the distance, and presenting a ...
Category
Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Carpet designed by Pierre Balmain France 1970s for Van Neder
Located in Firenze, FI
This carpet, designed by Pierre Balmain in the 1970s in France, is a rare example of the "Kyoto" pattern and was produced in Belgium by the Van Neder company.
Worked in wool, it has...
Category
1970s French Vintage Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Late 17th Century French Aubusson Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
A French Aubusson rustic tapestry from the late 17th century, 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 7’2” 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...
Category
Late 17th Century French Aubusson Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Bobyrug’s Wonderful Fine Antique French Aubusson Tapestry
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Very beautiful and fine Aubusson tapestry with a nice design of the royal court with knights, and very beautiful colors, entirely and finely handwoven with wool and silk, at the famo...
Category
Early 20th Century French Aubusson Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Silk
1900 Antique Bessarabian Kilim Rug
Located in Los Angeles, US
Antique Bessarabian Rugs / Kilims in both pile and tapestry weaving technique are some of the more beautiful carpets to have been produced in Europe. Many of the Bessarabian Kilims w...
Category
Early 1900s Russian Bessarabian Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool, Cotton
Swans Ducks 18th Century Aubusson French Tapestry Panel
Located in New York, NY
Late 18th century Aubusson tapestry panel made in France. Measures: Height 9 feet 4 inches, width 7 feet 11 inches.
Swans and ducks swimming in a lake...
Category
Late 18th Century French French Provincial Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Large Antique French Aubusson Rug Handwoven Rug Pre-1900 10x12 Brown France
Located in New York, NY
Magnificent Authentic Antique French Aubusson Rare Brown 10x12 1870 Handwoven 10x12 C.1870
"This is a magnificent pre-1900 antique Napoleon III French Aubusson. It has a soft blue background and beautiful bold design"-Antique Rug Collection
Size
10' x 12'
Serial ID #
10734k
Design
French Aubusson
Origin
France
Age
Circa 1870
Category
Antique
Pattern
Floral
Material
100% Hand woven wool
Foundation Material
Cotton
Color
Brown, Black, Ivory, Pink, Red, Yellow, Green
Quality
Fine
Condition
Great Condition Consistent With Age and History, old restorations, Overall Magnificent Piece to Last for Generations
History~
Carpet production in France almost came to a complete halt during the turmoil of the French Revolution. The revolutionaries felt that woven carpets were luxury items affordable only by the nobility. Existing carpets, especially those commissioned by Louis XIV for the Grande Galerie, were used by the Directoire for themselves, after cutting out any royal emblems...
Category
1870s French Napoleon III Antique Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Pretty Vintage French Hand Printed Tapestry Titled "the danse"
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Nice 20th century French tapestry, in style of Aubusson tapestries, with a design of a medieval museum tapestry called « La Danse » ( The Danse) and beautiful colors, hand printed on...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Western European Rugs
Materials
Cotton
SELENE Area Rug Tufted Wool and Viscose
Located in Istanbul, TR
Named after the Greek Goddesses of the Moon, SELENE is a tufted area rug, calling for interaction with its softness and warmth.
The material choice...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Modern Western European Rugs
Materials
Other
Selce #5 Rug By Studio Salaris
Located in Milan, IT
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...
Category
2010s Italian Western European Rugs
Materials
Textile
Vintage French Aubusson Chinese Needlepoint Carpet, 09'11 x 13'09
Located in Dallas, TX
77205 Vintage French Aubusson Floral Trellis Needlepoint Chinese Rug with Chintz Style. Drawing inspiration from Mario Buatta and Chintz style, thi...
Category
Late 20th Century Chinese Aubusson Western European Rugs
Materials
Wool
Beautiful Large Antique French Janus Rug
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Pretty large distressed French Janus rug with nice decorative Persian stylized design and beautiful colors, entirely hand crafted with « point de Lys » method by wool on cotton found...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Agra Western European Rugs
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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