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Baroque Furniture

BAROQUE STYLE

The decadence of the Baroque style, in which ornate furnishings were layered against paneled walls, painted ceilings, stately chandeliers and, above all, gilding, expressed the power of the church and monarchy through design that celebrated excess. And its influence was omnipresent — antique Baroque furniture was created in the first design style that truly had a global impact.

Theatrical and lavish, Baroque was prevalent across Europe from the 17th to mid-18th century and spread around the world through colonialism, including in Asia, Africa and the Americas. While Baroque originated in Italy and achieved some of its most fantastic forms in the late-period Roman Baroque, it was adapted to meet the tastes and materials in each region. French Baroque furniture informed Louis XIV style and added drama to Versailles. In Spain, the Baroque movement influenced the elaborate Churrigueresque style in which architecture was dripping with ornamental details. In South German Baroque, furniture was made with bold geometric patterns.

Compared to Renaissance furniture, which was more subdued in its proportions, Baroque furniture was extravagant in all aspects, from its shape to its materials.

Allegorical and mythical figures were often sculpted in the wood, along with motifs like scrolling floral forms and acanthus leaves that gave the impression of tangles of dense foliage. Novel techniques and materials such as marquetry, gesso and lacquer — which were used with exotic woods and were employed by cabinetmakers such as André-Charles Boulle, Gerrit Jensen and James Moore — reflected the growth of international trade. Baroque furniture characteristics include a range of decorative elements — a single furnishing could feature everything from carved gilded wood to gilt bronze, lending chairs, mirrors, console tables and other pieces a sense of motion.

Find a collection of authentic antique Baroque tables, lighting, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.

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Style: Baroque
Antique Oak Flat-Lidded Chest from 1691 Renaissance-early Baroque, 17th century
Located in Halle, DE
Antique flat-lidded chest from the 17th century. Renaissance / Early Baroque. Made in 1691 in oak wood. Until recently, the chest was owned for 333 years by a family of lawyers from ...
Category

17th Century German Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Oak

19th Century Baroque Spanish Side Table with Marquetry & Painted Top
Located in Miami, FL
19th century Baroque Spanish side table with marquetry & painted top 19th century Spanish trestle table in walnut. This piec...
Category

Mid-19th Century Spanish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood

19th Century Cupboard or Cabinet, Walnut, Castillian Influence, Spain, Restored
Located in Miami, FL
Grand 19th century Spanish armario or wardrobe armoire constructed from walnut. Features a coffered case fronted by two doors. This massive cabinet made in Spain features beautiful w...
Category

Late 19th Century Spanish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Walnut

Early 17th century French School "Virgin and Child "
Located in Madrid, ES
Early 17th century French School "Virgin and Child " Oil on canvas (Original canvas, restorations, gaps) 71.5 x 60.3 cm Provenance Duc de Lesdiguières, according to an old label ...
Category

17th Century French Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Paint

Antique De Porceleyne Bijl Chinese Garden Chinoiserie Dutch Delft Pottery Plate
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A fine antique Dutch Delft pottery plate. By the De Porceleyne Bijl (The Porcelain Axe) factory. With a broad flat rim and a shallow well. The well decorated in underglaze blue with a Chinese garden scene including a fence, tree, stylized ferns, and a large chrysanthemum flower. The rim decorated with flowers and scrollwork and a yellow painted line to the rim. Marked to the reverse with a stylized blue axe mark to the reverse. Simply a wonderful antique Delft plate...
Category

Mid-18th Century Dutch Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Delft

Fifties Vintage Table Lamp Onyx Marble Brass Acanthus
Located in Poperinge, BE
Beautiful vintage table lamp with matching vintage lampshade with special shape, the lamp base is made of onyx marble from Pakistan, decorated with brass intermediate pieces and very...
Category

Mid-20th Century European Baroque Furniture

Materials

Onyx, Marble, Brass

Italian 19th Century Crystal and Gilt Vase
Located in Baton Rouge, LA
Stunning Italian gold gilt crystal vase, dating to circa 1850 if not earlier. A true artisan and visionary sculpted this work from thick, heavy glass to create the trumpet form with ...
Category

19th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Crystal

Antique Baroque Style Walnut Chest of Drawers
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
Antique baroque style walnut chest of drawers, early 19th century. This chest has great original color / patina. The top lifts up, the bottom two drawers work.
Category

Early 19th Century European Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Iron

Large 19th Century French Decorative Fan with Chubby Angels on Blue Sky
Located in Atlanta, GA
This stunning 19th-century French decorative fan is a testament to exquisite craftsmanship and artistic elegance. The fan leaf is meticulously hand-painted on vellum or silk, featuri...
Category

19th Century French Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Bone, Silk, Paint

Spanish Colonial Narrow Walnut Console Table, 1920s
Located in Miami, FL
Spanish colonial narrow console table. This piece has legs with two pedestals joined by a wooden stretcher.
Category

Early 20th Century Spanish Baroque Furniture

Materials

Walnut

Commode, Early 18th Century, Italian, Venetian, Baroque, Walnut, Serpentine Front
Located in BUNGAY, SUFFOLK
The serpentine front on this magnificent commode is sophisticated and gives it gravitas. It has a rich colour and lustrous patina and has come from a private collection, Semenzato Ve...
Category

Early 18th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Walnut

Big French Baroque Loaded Crystal Spears Prisms 3 Light Sconces c 1900
Located in Firenze, Toscana
These will be newly wired with certified US UL sockets for the USA and appropriate sockets for all other countries and ready to hang. Metal scroll with perfect patina. Housing three ...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Crystal

Antique 18th Century De Klaauw Dutch Delft Pottery Floral Plate
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A fine antique Dutch Delft pottery plate. With a white porcelain ground richly decorated with blue, green, yellow and orange flowers and foliage. With a brown underglaze De Klaauw ...
Category

Early 19th Century Dutch Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Delft

1890 Antique French Tapestry Arts & Crafts Ceremonial 8x9 239cm x 257cm
Located in New York, NY
1890 Antique French Tapestry Arts & Crafts Ceremonial 8x9 7'10" x 8'5" 239cm x 257cm 1890 "This is an outstanding very large antique French tapestry- This room size piece incorporat...
Category

1890s French Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wool

20th Century Hand-Made Sterling Silver Oval Bowl by Ilario Pradella, Italy, 1980
Located in Cagliari, IT
Wonderful oval centerpiece made in sterling silver by Ilario Pradella for Bellezza Cagliari. New, never used. This centerpiece was personally designed by Gianmaria Buccelati who, by...
Category

1980s Italian Vintage Baroque Furniture

Materials

Sterling Silver

18th Century Black Baroque Stone Top Table from Sweden
Located in Round Top, TX
Baroque period stone top table from the 18th century, Sweden. This impressive table features a deep plum colored 2" thick stone top. The base has one drawer with divided interior and...
Category

Mid-18th Century Swedish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Stone

1920 Caldwell Silver Plated Sconces Waves Design
Located in New York, NY
pair of circa 1920's Caldwell silver plated bronze sconces with waves design, two lights
Category

1910s American Vintage Baroque Furniture

Materials

Bronze

Important Spanish Cabinet, 17th Century
Located in Madrid, ES
Important Spanish Cabinet 17th century in blackened wood and tortoiseshell veneer. It opens with eight drawers framing a central door, surrounded by two columns. Richly decorated w...
Category

17th Century Spanish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Bronze

Small 17th-18th Century French Carved Oak Lion Fragment
Located in Buisson, FR
Wonderful and unique small hand carved oak lion fragment. Beautiful weathered. France circa 1650-1750 Weathered. measurements include the wooden pedestal. H:11cm W:6cm D:5,5cm
Category

17th Century French Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Oak

Attribution to Francesco Solimena "Resurrection of Christ" 18th Century
Located in Madrid, ES
Attribution to Francesco Solimena "Resurrection of Christ" 18th Century oil on canvas (129x77 cm.) framed good condition for the period Francesco Solimena, also called l'Abate C...
Category

Early 18th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Paint

Italian 18th Century Oil on Canvas "Madonna and Child" after Giovanni Lanfranco
By Giovanni Lanfranco
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A very fine Italian 18th century oil on canvas "Madonna and Child" after Giovanni Lanfranco (Italian, 1582-1647). The young Virgin Mary attending to...
Category

18th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Canvas, Giltwood

Set of Ten Therien Studio Volute Walnut Dining Chairs
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Opulent set of ten grand walnut dining chairs designed by Therien Studio Workshop for Dessin Fournir. The bespoke set consists of eight side chairs and two host armchairs. The Volute...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Baroque Furniture

Materials

Brass

Death Comes to the Table Memento Mori by Giovanni Martinelli c. 1670
Located in Milano, MI
Italian painting from 1600 Banquet with Figures Memento Mori by Giovanni Martinelli, titled Death Comes to the Banquet Table, vanitas circa 1635. The oil-on-canvas painting is inspi...
Category

Late 17th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Canvas, Oak

17th C. Italian Ebonized Mirror
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Beautiful 17th C. Medium Sized Mirror, Vintage glass
Category

17th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Walnut

Period Philips Wouwerman Credited Dutch Landscape
Located in Roma, IT
Important oil on panel by the great Dutch artist Philips Wouwerman (also Wouwermans) (1619 – 1668) a painter of hunting, landscape and battle scenes....
Category

17th Century Dutch Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood

Antique Cast Iron Pedestal Base/Base ONLY
Located in Sheffield, MA
This listing is for the base only. The contemporary indoor or outdoor pedestal can be used in combination with a stone, glass or wood top for dining or conference table. The 19th century cast iron...
Category

Mid-19th Century Unknown Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Iron

18th Century Swedish Miniature Baroque Chest of Drawers
Located in Bozeman, MT
Good 18th century Swedish miniature Baroque jewellery box / commode in it's original finish with good patination. ca 1750 Sweden.
Category

18th Century Swedish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood

Dos Gallos Custom Oak Wood Demilune Cabinet
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Petit demilune cabinet with raised diamond door fronts, animal style feet and dental molding. Interior shelves. Can be made in any size and finish. Made in Los Angles by Dos Gallos S...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Baroque Furniture

Materials

Oak

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 Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wool, Silk

Pair of Custom Applique Petite Pillows by MLA
By Melissa Levinson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pair of custom petite embossed silk velvet pillows with 19th century metallic Italian appliques affixed to the fronts. The backs are a coordinating silk. Down inserts, zipper closu...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Baroque Furniture

Materials

Metallic Thread

Pair of Baroque Hand-Carved Giltwood Candlesticks
Located in Houston, TX
Pair of baroque hand-carved giltwood candlesticks from Italy. Sold together and priced $3,800 for the pair. Note: Original/early finish on ant...
Category

Early 18th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Giltwood

Early 18th Century Venetian Silk Lampas Cover
Located in Canterbury, GB
A rare and exquisite Venetian Silk Lampas Cover in the most glorious colourway of opulent shimmering Green and Gold Changes colour depending on position and light Dating from circ...
Category

Late 17th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Silk

Cinderella Tea Service, White & Gold, Handmade in Italy, Luxury Gold Design 2021
Located in San Miniato PI, IT
Our artisan's pieces are a dream come true, as in Disney's Cinderella. Ceramic tea service are completely hand-crafted and painted with love and care. A set is composed by a teap...
Category

2010s Italian Baroque Furniture

Materials

Ceramic

Antique Italian Walnut Baroque Credenza Buffet Cabinet 1680 Ex de Young Museum
Located in Portland, OR
A very good antique Italian baroque walnut cabinet, Tuscany, circa 1680. The cabinet had been part of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum San Francisco (now The de Young Museum), and w...
Category

1680s Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Pine, Walnut

Cinderella's Pumpkin Teapot, Handmade in Italy, Luxury Handcrafted Design 2021
Located in San Miniato PI, IT
Our artisan's pieces are a dream come true, as in Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Ceramic tea service are completely hand-crafted and painted with love and care. Sometimes we all just need to have a little stress relief. We want to escape the ordinary days, made of work and pain. Give yourself a little gift with those fabolous creations full of poetry and fairytales. Our artist models every single detail with patience and love, to bring us back in a world made of dreams and feelings. The collection recalls Alice in wonderland and Cinderella, taking us to a trip in our childhood, a world that lives silently inside, giving us the strength to always believe...
Category

2010s Italian Baroque Furniture

Materials

Ceramic

Spanish Set of 8 Baroque Style Tooled Leather & Carved Wood Side Chairs
Located in Atlanta, GA
A Spanish set of eight carved wood and tooled leather side chairs from the mid 20th century. These vintage chairs from Spain, designed with Baroque influences, each have high-arched ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Spanish Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood

Florentine Style Gilt Wood Mirror
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
Baroque Florentine style wood carved, gilt wood mirror, late 19th century. Vigorously carved with old gold leaf that has mellowed with age.
Category

Late 19th Century European Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Gold Leaf

Table Baroque Sweden
Located in New York, NY
Table made during the baroque period in Sweden. Made from oak. Later painted in brown with a waxed surface. Legs in baluster shape. One drawer in the front.
Category

17th Century Swedish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Oak

Spanish 17/ 18th Century Hand Carved Group of Baroque Winged Angel Heads
Located in Buisson, FR
Beautiful Hand carved group of winged angelheads. Wonderful traces of paint are visible and the wood has a gorgeous natural patina due to its high age Spain, circa 1650-1750 Weathere...
Category

17th Century Spanish Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood

Matteo Lovatti (Italian, 1861-1909) 19th-Century Oil on Canvas "Church V State"
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Matteo Lovatti (Italian, 1861-1909) A Fine 19th-Century Oil on Canvas Titled 'Church V. State - The Fencing Lesson'. The finely detailed artwork depicting an interior tavern scene, f...
Category

19th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Canvas, Giltwood

Italian 18th Century Hand Carved And Silvered Wooden Baroque Reliquary
Located in Buisson, FR
Wonderful and detailed reliquary holder with its beautiful weathered original silver, Italy, circa 1750. Weathered and small losses and old repairs.
Category

18th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood

Antique Velvet Pillow 18th Century Genoa Velvet
Located in Canterbury, GB
Antique Velvet Pillow Hand made incorporating early textiles Early 18th Century Italian Genoa Silk and Metallic Velvet Front. Jardiniere Des...
Category

1790s Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Silk, Velvet

Antique Italian Baroque Gold Leaf and Enameled Beveled Mirror
Located in Doylestown, PA
Antique Italian baroque gold leaf beveled mirror, Italy, c. 1920's. Magnificent wall mirror pairing both Florentine and Venetian styles. The frame is exquisitely carved having a un...
Category

1920s Italian Vintage Baroque Furniture

Materials

Enamel, Gold Leaf

Antique German Baroque Inlaid Marquetry Dowry Chest Coffer Trunk Seat Bench 1700
Located in Portland, OR
A fine antique German Baroque inlaid marquetry walnut dowry chest coffer circa 1700. The coffer having a lift up lid enclosing a storage space for clothing or linens, the chest is fi...
Category

Early 1700s German Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Ebony, Fruitwood, Walnut

Pair Of Italian Lamps 1800 Lacquered in Grey Green and Ochre Shield Fan
Located in Milano, MI
Pair Of Italian Bedside Lamps 1800 urns carved and lacquered in the tones of Gray, Green and Ochre with shield shade, using as bases two antique palm holders lacquered in the tones o...
Category

Early 19th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Wood, Faux Leather

Fine Brass Crystal Chandelier Antique Ceiling Lamp Lustre Art Nouveau Lamp, 1900
Located in Berlin, DE
**Cherished Antique Chandelier - Lovingly Restored in Berlin** Introducing an exquisite antique chandelier that has been lovingly restored in Berlin. Its electrical wiring is compat...
Category

18th Century European Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Crystal, Brass, Wire

Antique Italian Arched Table Mirror
Located in Sheffield, MA
Antique Italian baroque arched giltwood standing mirror with heavily carved gilt frame. Hang on a wall or sit on a table, a perfect mirror to add interest to any room. Great for a va...
Category

20th Century Italian Baroque Furniture

Materials

Giltwood

Blue and White Dutch Delft Tile with Pikier, Mid 17th Century
Located in AMSTERDAM, NH
The Netherlands Amsterdam Circa 1625 – 1650 A blue and white Dutch tile with a decoration of a Dutch soldier from the period of the 80 Years War. This soldier could be a member of t...
Category

1620s Dutch Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Ceramic, Faience, Majolica

Italy 19th Century Majestic Double Bed in Walnut Restored and Polished to Wax
Located in Vigonza, Padua
Antique Italian Baroque double bed in solid walnut and veneered walnut restored and wax-polished, circa 1850 Measures cm: H182\111 W183 D220 (internal 170 x 200). ABOUT Bassano's ...
Category

Mid-19th Century Italian Antique Baroque Furniture

Materials

Walnut

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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