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Material: Fabric
Antique Lawa Woman’s Ikat Skirt Cloth, Thailand
Located in Point Richmond, CA
Antique Lawa Woman’s Ikat Skirt Cloth, Thailand The Lawa people are a relatively small animist/Buddhist ethnic group (est. pop 17,000) living in the mountainous region of northern T...
Category

Mid-20th Century Thai Tribal Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton

Pair of 18th C. French Tapestry Panels with Cherubs
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pair of 18th C. tapestry panels featuring intricate and richly detailed designs. They display classical motifs, including large architectural elements resembling columns adorned wit...
Category

18th Century French Baroque Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Ottoman Turkish Goldwork Embroidered and Appliqué Panel: "Tree of Life"
Located in New York, NY
Islamic Ottoman Goldwork Embroidered and Appliqué Panel in the Arabesques style Likely originating in the first half of the 1800's, this textile is constructed from metallic thread:...
Category

1850s Turkish Islamic Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Gold, Silver, Platinum

"Psyche taking the bath" Fine Silk Embroidery Tapestry
Located in Hong Kong, HK
This exquisite piece titled "Psyche taking the bath" is a fine silk embroidery based on the original design by the artists Louis Laffite and Joseph Blondel for a French wallpaper. This artwork is a replica after original antique design. Painstakingly handcrafted with 25,000 shades of silk threads, this is the only original reproduction of this design, it took the craftsman 3 years to produce this level of work. The intricate details and delicate craftsmanship make this artwork a true masterpiece. It is a timeless piece that would elevate any art collection or home decor. History of Design There were originally 12 paintings depicting the story of Psyche based on Jean de La Fontaine's novel The Love of Cupid and Psyche (1669), which was itself inspired by the story of the Golden Donkey by the second-century Roman author Apuleius. This is one of the panoramic decorations. The original design was executed in a grisaille effect and 1,245 hand-printed wooden blocks were used to create the entire composition. It was originally produced by the famous French wallpaper company...
Category

2010s Spanish Arts and Crafts Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Silk

Antique Flemish Verdure Tapestry 9'6 x 12'2
Located in New York, NY
Antique flemish verdure tapestry, 9'6 x 12'2. This antique Flemish tapestry, probably from Brussels is a pure verdure, no humans, just one bird and no animals disturb the sylvan tran...
Category

18th Century Dutch Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Antique French Tapestry with Dutch Pictorial Scene, 03'02 x 04'03
By Jean-Baptiste Oudry
Located in Dallas, TX
78542 Rare Antique French Tapestry with Dutch Pictorial Scene, 03'02 x 04'03. Step into a world of pastoral elegance and old-world charm with this early 20th century French handwoven...
Category

Early 20th Century French Aubusson Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Joan Miró, "Danseuse Espagnole" French Wool Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
-"Danseuse Espagnole" by Joan Miró (after) -Design made in 1928, tapestry manufactured in 1965 -'J.MIRO' signature woven on reverse -Woven by Marie Cuttoli's Parisian Galerie for Gal...
Category

1960s French Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

American framed needle work sampler by Seraphina Learned, 1800's
Located in Kenilworth, IL
American sampler of silk floss on linen with a modest zig-zag border framing an uppercase letter alphabet, followed by a cursive alphabet, a lower case alphabet, and the numerals one...
Category

Early 18th Century American Folk Art Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Linen, Silk

A Jutland Flat Weave Mills Rug after Verner Panton
By Verner Panton, Jutland Group
Located in BROOKLYN, NY
A rare Jutland Flat Weave Mills rug or tapestry, after a design by Verner Panton. Wool, cotton and jute. In amazing preserved condition. Featuring repeating green and blue geometric ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Jute, Cotton

Bobyrug’s Pretty antique French Aubusson Tapestry medieval design
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Exquisite French tapestry from the mid-20th century, handwoven in the renowned Aubusson workshops. This masterpiece replicates a 15th-century museum tapestry, featuring heraldic moti...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Silk

Vintage bird tapestry by Elbé, France 1970s
Located in STRASBOURG, FR
Vintage bird tapestry in the style of Jean Lurçat, signed Elbé. French production circa 1970.
Category

1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Fabric, Wood

Multicolor Cotton Throw Blanket, Bit Map Series 02, Pixel Graphic , 37" x 52"
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Bit Map Series 02 by Luft Tanaka Studio A multicolored and visually striking throw blanket / wall tapestry woven out of 100 % cotton yarn. 37" x 52" ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton

Monumental French Aubusson-Style Verdure Tapestry by Les Tapisseries d’Halluin
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Monumental French Aubusson-Style Verdure Tapestry by Les Tapisseries d’Halluin, Mid-20th Century This impressive panoramic wall tapestry was produced by Les Tapisseries d’Halluin, H...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Baroque Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Fabric, Wool, Cotton

18th Century Aubusson Verdure Tapestry
Located in Los Angeles, CA
18th Century European Hand-Woven Aubusson Verdure Tapestry depicting a woodland nature scene. Made in France circa 18th Century. Finely woven with cloth backing.
Category

18th Century French Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Tapestry, Wool

Handmade Macrame Wall Hanging by Milla Novo in Silky Terra Metallic Rope
Located in Bennebroek, NL
Milla Novo is a talented artist based in the Netherlands, renowned for creating bespoke, high-end macramé wall hangings that elevate luxury interiors. Each unique piece is meticulous...
Category

2010s Dutch Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Synthetic

Large Hand Woven Tapestry of Roman Triumph of Caesar Flemish Style
Located in Nashville, TN
Hand woven tapestry depicting a Caesar or Victorous warrior at the end of his triumph bowing and swearing allegiance to Roman law before a Curia of Senators ,lectors behind the victo...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Tapestry

Greenery Tapestry from the Aubusson Factory, 210lx170h - No. 1478
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century Condition: Perfect condition Material: Wool & Silk Width: 210 cm Height: 170 cm Depth: 0.5 cm Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a F...
Category

1880s French Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Silk

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 Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Bobyrug’s Wonderful French Valance Aubusson Tapestry
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Very beautiful late 19th century Aubusson Valence tapestry from Napoleon the third period, with nice floral design and beautiful colors, entirely and finely handwoven with wool and s...
Category

Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Silk

Wonderful Vintage French screen printed by hand Tapestry « Maximilian's Hunt »
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Discover the elegance of this mid-century French hand-printed tapestry featuring the exquisite design of « The month of July or The sign of the lion or The report, from the tapestry ...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Medieval Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Cotton, Linen

Wonderful Vintage French screen printed by hand Tapestry “the winegrowers”
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Discover the elegance of this mid-century French screen printed by hand tapestry featuring an alteration from the exquisite design of the renowned medieval museum tapestry, "Les Vend...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Cotton

1960s Wall Art Hand-Woven Fish Tapestry Set
Located in Chula Vista, CA
AMBIANIC presents Vintage Hand-Woven Fish Tapestry Pair Set of 2 in wool 23.5 w x 38.75 red 25 x 38 Original vintage unrestored Refer to images
Category

Mid-20th Century Folk Art Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

3x3.3 Ft Embroidered Wall Hanging. Cotton Tablecloth. Handmade Tapestry
Located in Spring Valley, NY
Hand-Embroidered 100% Cotton New Suzani Fabric Wall Hanging – Timeless Textile Art Experience the beauty of Central Asia craftsmanship with this exquisite hand-embroidered 100% cotto...
Category

2010s Central Asian Suzani Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton

1930's Berber Moroccan Textile
Located in Dallas, TX
78447 Vintage Berber Moroccan Tribal Textile, 01'04 x 01'08. Emanating nomadic charm and steeped in ancient Berber history, this handwoven Moroccan fragment is a captivating vision o...
Category

Early 20th Century Moroccan Bohemian Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Contemporary Wool Wall Tapestry with Modern Shapes, Opus LIX by Mira Sohlen
Located in 1204, CH
Each tapestry is called Opus followed by its chronological roman numeral in the order they were created. Opus is a latin word meaning a work, used to mean a particular piece of music...
Category

2010s Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Ottoman Silk Chintamani Motif Hand Embroidered Suzani Tapestry
Located in London, GB
Journey into the heart of the Ottoman Empire's artistic legacy with our exquisite Suzani hand embroidery items. Each piece is a living canvas of tradition, meticulously crafted by sk...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Suzani Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton, Silk

Collection of Two Framed Pre-Columbian Textile Panels Chimu Chancay Culture
Located in Atlanta, GA
A collection of two fragments of antique pre-Columbia textile panel from Chimu or Chancay culture located in Central and Northern Coast of nowadays Peru. The panels were presented in...
Category

15th Century and Earlier Peruvian Pre-Columbian Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Textile, Linen

A Flemish Verdure Tapestry, 18th Century
Located in ARMADALE, VIC
A Flemish Verdure Tapestry, 18th Century Depicting a woodland scene, with a large tree in the foreground and a city in the far background. Provenance: Private Australian Collection...
Category

18th Century Belgian Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Antique Sampler, 1825, by Mary Walter
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Regency Sampler, 1825, by Mary Walter. The sampler is worked in silk threads on a linen ground, mainly in cross stitch. Meandering strawberry border. Colours green, dark brown, white...
Category

1820s Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Silk

1970’s Wool Tapestry “La Barque De L’Ondine”
Located in Palm Springs, CA
A lovely colorful tapestry titled on the back “La Barque De L’Ondine” which roughly translates to the boat of Ondine, the Water Nymph. There are many myths and stories surrounding th...
Category

1970s French Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

18th Century French Aubusson Pastoral Tapestry Attributed to Jean Baptiste Huet
Located in Dallas, TX
Bring a touch of romance and history into your home with this large antique Aubusson tapestry. Woven in France circa 1780, the work is based on a cartoon attributed to Jean-Baptiste ...
Category

Mid-18th Century French Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Canvas

Pretty antique Hungarian embroidery tissue
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Beautiful antique hungarian embroidered tissue fragment , with beautiful designs of flowers and with nice natural colours, entirely hand embroide...
Category

Early 19th Century Hungarian Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Silk

18th Century Abstract Tapestry Collage
Located in LYON, FR
Early 18th-century abstract tapestry collage. Something I have never seen before. A 300 year old abstract tapestry made from fragments of potentially nine seperate works. To me, thi...
Category

1840s French Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

20x73 in Embroidered Cotton Wall Hanging. Green Table Runner. Modern Wall Decor
Located in Spring Valley, NY
Hand-Embroidered 100% Cotton New Suzani Fabric Wall Hanging – Timeless Textile Art Experience the beauty of Central Asia craftsmanship with this exquisite hand-embroidered 100% cotto...
Category

2010s Central Asian Suzani Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton

Antique Iranian Kalamkari Prayer Mat
Located in London, GB
Antique Iranian Kalamkari prayer mat Persian, Late 19th Century Height 128cm, width 92cm Crafted in the late 19th century by skilled Iranian craftsmen, this cotton prayer mat features a plethora of religious and nature-inspired motifs. Its surface is adorned with a selection of patterns and motifs created using the traditional woodblock printing technique called kalamkari (or Qalamkari). The 400 years old technique originating from Isfahan, utilises only natural and local materials, celebrating and supporting the local communities. A selection of repetitive, organic motifs adorns the cotton textile. The patterns are coloured in various shades of red, cream, and blue, their design inspired by religious Islamic architecture, in particular that of a mosque. The central prayer niche (also called a mihrab) is identical in shape to that of the arch-shaped prayer niches found in mosques. Arabic markings feature above it. This Persian prayer mat...
Category

Late 19th Century Persian Islamic Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton

Antique Persian Kerman Pictorial Rug, Nader Shah Afshahr, Tapestry Wall Hanging
Located in Dallas, TX
73703 Antique Persian Kerman Pictorial rug, Nader Shah Afshahr, Tapestry Wall Hanging. This antique Kerman rug displays a pictorial scene of Nader Shah Afsh...
Category

Late 19th Century Persian Archaistic Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Antique Framed Spanish/Italian Beadwork And Stumpwork Embroidery Panel, 17th C.
Located in Bristol, GB
ANTIQUE EMBROIDERED FLORAL TEXTILE PANEL A hugely decorative piece depicting branches of a tree with different types of flowers and foliage. There is a somewhat timeless, almost ab...
Category

1650s European Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Metallic Thread

Late 19th Century French Aubusson Verdure Tapestry with Louis XV Style
Located in Dallas, TX
78235 Late 19th Century Antique French Aubusson Tapestry, 04'10 x 06'01. Woven in the twilight decades of the 19th century, this antique French Aubusson tapestry is a romantic echo o...
Category

Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Large Vintage Chinese Wall Hanging
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Exceptional Chinese textile depicting classic Chinese scenery of flowers, garden , pagoda, playground ,market and people. All in vivid and beautiful colors on a vibrant red backgroun...
Category

20th Century Chinese Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Brocade

18th Century Italian Silk & Silver Metallic Thread Lampas Brocade Panel
Located in Rochester, NY
An exceptional and fine hand woven 18th century Italian silk and silver metallic thread lampas brocade panel with beautiful aged original color. Red silk backing w/ attached strip of...
Category

Early 18th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Metallic Thread

Pretty antique tapestry cardboard hand painted panel
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
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...
Category

Late 19th Century French Romantic Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Cotton, Linen

Kennedy Bahia Brazilian Modern Wall Tapestry, 1980s
Located in Miami, FL
Woven wall tapestry by Brazilian textile artist Kennedy Bahia circa 1980. Hummingbird, butterflies and flowers. “Known nationally and internatio...
Category

Late 20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Textile

Aubusson Tapestry By Michèle Ray From 1960 (Lurcat Man Ray)
Located in LE CANNET, FR
Aubusson tapestry in hand-woven wool by the Robert Four factory in the 60s, based on the work of the artist Michèle Ray "L'Aube" limited copies number. A beautiful wall decoration. S...
Category

1960s Aubusson Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Mid-Century Modern Tapestry by Jean Picart le Doux, 'Hommage a Paul Eluard'
Located in London, GB
This is a stunning tapestry by the well-known tapestry maker Jean Picart le Doux. It is signed on the bottom right hand side. The tapestry is named 'Homage a Paul Eluard...
Category

1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

29x30 in 100% Silk Wall Hanging. Embroidered Tablecloth. Boho Wall Decor
Located in Spring Valley, NY
Celebrate the rich heritage of Asian craftsmanship with this exquisite 100% silk Suzani textile, meticulously hand-embroidered by skilled artisans. A true work of art, this piece emb...
Category

2010s Central Asian Suzani Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Silk

White Textile Artwork Wall Piece, Made of handspun handwoven Wool, handcrafted
Located in Marseille, FR
- Handspun and handwoven wool using natural dyes - 2025 - Edition of 20. This tapestry is the result of a collaboration between memòri studio and all the spinners and weavers from ...
Category

2010s Moroccan Arts and Crafts Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

A Framed Faux Stumpwork Tapestry, Late 18th / Early 19th Century
Located in ARMADALE, VIC
A Framed Faux Stumpwork Tapestry, Late 18th / Early 19th Century The oval tapestry depicting a couple and a dog passing through an archway from wooded to architectural land. Height...
Category

Early 19th Century Dutch Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Tapestry

Contemporary Woolen Art Work - Abstract Woolen Wall Object
Located in Bussiere Dunoise, Nouvel Aquitaine
Handmade Wool Artwork made by M. Dombrowsky. An abstract, minimalist work made of wool and wood Each work is handcrafted, dyed, and spun by hand. The wool is intricately wrapped, and...
Category

2010s French Minimalist Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Reclaimed Wood

Antique French Tapestry Handwoven French Tapestry Verdure Scenic Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
Rare Antique French Tapestry Pictorial Woodsman Verdure 1920 Tapestry Large Tapestry Wall Hanging 5'2" x 6'8" 5 x 7 153cm x 204cm circa 1920 "Thi...
Category

1920s French Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

1970s Large Textile Wall Art
Located in Miami, FL
Large vintage Textile wall Art. Circa 1970s Features a stretched canvas with a forest inspired design printed in vibrant earth tone colors. ...
Category

1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Textile, Wood

Late 19th Century English William Morris Large Leaf Verdure Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
An English William Morris verdure tapestry from the turn of the 20th century, featuring several peacocks within a verdant setting of large leaves and floral sprays. Enclosed within a...
Category

Early 20th Century English Art Deco Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Antique Late 17th Century Square Flemish Verdure Landscape Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
This is a gorgeous antique late 17th century Flemish verdure landscape tapestry depicting a beautiful and rich summer scene of a countryside with lush trees and vegetation, with two ...
Category

17th Century Belgian Baroque Antique Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Tapestry, Wool

Vintage Hand Woven Tapestry Depicting Life Scenes Around a Village
Located in Barrington, IL
Discover the profound beauty in simplicity with this captivating Vintage Hand-Woven African Tapestry. This remarkable textile art piece authentically depicts daily life scenes around...
Category

Mid-20th Century Lesothian Fabric Tapestries

Materials

Wool

Tapestry Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period 1738 at the Gobelins
Located in Madrid, ES
Tapestry from the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period , made in 1738 at the Gobelins One panel from a series of Gobelins tapestries depicting the History of Esther, illustrating Esther seated and attended by handmaidens, one washing her feet in golden basin, another fastening a bracelet, another offering a mirror, all observed by Mordecai, woven in the workshop of Michele Audran after a design by J. F. de Troy. The Toilet of Esther c.1778-85.Royal Collection Trust-Queens Audience Chamber Windsor Castle The Sketches for the Esther Cycle by Jean-François de Troy (1736) “and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mor’decai, ..., took for his own daughter.” (Est. 2:7) A supple and undulating genius, both a flattering portraitist and a prolix history painter, as well as a brilliant genre painter, in a gallant or worldly vein, Jean-François de Troy (Paris, 1679 – Rome, 1752), solicited, although he had passed the threshold of old age, a new royal commission up to his ambitions. To obtain it, he submitted – successfully - for the approval of the Bâtiments du roi (administration), seven modelli painted in 1736 with his usual alacrity. Inspired by one of the most novelistic texts of the Old Testament, the Book of Esther, these sketches in a rapid and virtuoso manner were transformed by the artist, between 1737 and 1740 into large cartoons intended to serve as models for the weavers of the Gobelins factory. Showing undeniable ease and skill in the composition in perfect harmony with the sensitivities of the times, the tapestry set met with great success. The Story of Esther perfectly corresponded to the plan of the Bâtiments du roi to renew the repertoire of tapestry models used for the weavers of the royal factories while it also conformed to the tastes of Louis XV’s subjects for a fantastical Orient, the set for a dramatic tale in which splendour, love and death were combined. Indeed, no tapestry set was woven in France during the 18th century as often as that of Esther. The series of modelli painted by de Troy during the year 1736 looks to the history of French painting and decoration under Louis XV as much as it does the history of the Gobelins. It probably counts among the most important rococo pictorial groups to have remained in private hands. First the Biblical source illustrated by De Troy which constitutes the base of one of the richest iconographical traditions of Western art will be considered. Then the circumstances and specific character of French civilisation during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV which contributed to making the theme of Esther a relevant subject, both attractive to contemporaries and remarkably in line with the sensitivities of the time will be elucidated. An examination of the exceptional series of sketches united here, the cartoons and the tapestries that they anticipate as well as a study of their reception will close this essay. The Book of Esther: A scriptural source at the source of rich iconography. The origin of the Esther tapestry set by Jean-François de Troy – origin and creation of a masterpiece According to the evidence of one of the artist’s early biographers, the chevalier de Valory, author of a posthumous elegy of the master, read at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 6 February 1762, it was apparently due to early16 rivalry with François Lemoyne (1688-1737), his younger colleague who had precisely just been appointed First Painter to the King in 1736, that had encouraged François de Troy to seek a commission allowing him to show off his ease and his promptitude at the expense of a rival who was notoriously laborious: “M. De Troy, retaining some resentment of the kind of disadvantage which he believed to have suffered compared with his emulator looked to regain some territory by making use of the facility his rival did not possess. Lemoyne was excessively long in the creation of his works,and M. De Troy of a rare celerity: consequently, with this particular talent, the latter offered to the court to make paintings appropriate to be executed at the Gobelins Factory; and it is to this circumstance that we owe the beautiful series of the Story of Esther, which would be sufficient alone to give him a great reputation.”17 Beyond the suspicion inspired by the topos, which still constitutes, more or less, a tale of rivalries between artists in ancient literature, there is probably some truth in what Valory reports although A.-J. Dezalier d’Argenville (who indicates rather spitefully that de Troy did not hesitate to “cut prices” to impose himself, benefitting from the productivity assured by the unlikely rapidity of his brush)18 proves to be more evasive: “As he looked to busy himself, he had offered to make the paintings that serve as models for the King’s tapestries cheaply: which did not please his colleagues. He was given a choice of two tapestry series to be made and he took the Story of Esther and that of Jason”.19 Whether or not the choice was actually left to de Troy (which would appear rather casual on the royal administration’s part all the same), it seems likely that the artist, whose contemporaries extol his “fire”, as the faculty of invention was then called, must have ardently aspired to the possibility of using on a very large scale the “creative genius” with which Dezallier d’Argenville credits him. The decoration of the private apartments, the fashion for which Louis XV had promoted at Versailles and Fontainebleau, offered little opportunity to excel in this area. Other than painting for altarpieces, only tapestries could allow comparison with Lemoyne who had been granted – unfortunately for him – a major decoration: the enormous ceiling of the Hercules Room at Versailles. Favoured by the recent improvement in France’s financial situation, the revival of patronage offered de Troy a commission fitting for him, in a field in which, however, he had hardly any experience. Anxious to renew the repertoire of models available to the Gobelins factory, the Duc d’Antin, surintendant des Bâtiments du roi from 1708 to 1736 followed by his successor, Philibert Orry comte de Vignory, gave him the task of producing seven large cartoons inspired by the Book of Esther corresponding to the brilliant sketches or modelli which de Troy had produced in one go, or almost (very few preparatory drawings can in fact be linked to the Esther cycle and all seem to be at the execution stage of the cartoons).20 Subjected to the approval of the Administration des Bâtiments according to the procedure in use for projects being planned for the Gobelins, sketches made rapidly during 1736 were approved and the project launched immediately. Thereupon came the news of François Lemoyne’s death, who, ground down by work and a victim of his private torment, committed suicide on 4 June 1737. Against all expectations, de Troy did not replace his rival in the position of First Painter (which remained vacant until the appointment of Charles Coypel in January 1747), which would perhaps have made him too obviously the beneficiary of the drama. The awarding of the position of Director of the French Academy in Rome came to console him while he had already produced (or he was in the process of finishing), in Paris, three of the seven cartoons of the cycle (The Fainting of Esther finished in 1737 and the Toilet and Coronation of Esther, both finished in 1738). De Troy, we can see, did not follow the order of the narrative but began with the subjects which apparently offered the least difficulty because he had already depicted them, or because they fall into a strong pictorial tradition (such is the case especially for the Fainting of Esther). He had hardly settled at the Palazzo Mancini in August 1738, when his first task which awaited the new director of the French Academy naturally consisted of honouring the royal commission and finishing without delay the final cartoons of the Story of Esther after the sketches he must have taken with him. As prompt as ever, de Troy discharged himself of the execution of the four remaining cartoons in only two years, by beginning with the largest format which allowed him to strike the imagination and to impose himself as soon as he arrived on the Roman stage: the Triumph of Mor’decai which was finished in 1739 (like Esther’s Banquet). The following year, the Mor’decai's Disdain and The Sentencing of Haman were brought to an end in the same Neo-Venetian style, obviously tributary to Veronese with its choice of “open” monumental architecture which is characteristic of the entire cycle.21 The series, it should be noted, was almost augmented with some additional scenes in the mid 1740s. Indeed, the first tapestry set finished at the Gobelins in 1744 proved to be unsuitable for the arrangement of the Dauphine’s apartments at Versailles for which it had been intended to decorate the walls the following year (cf infra). Informed of this, de Troy, considering that the story of Esther offered “several good subjects,” immediately offered to illustrate one or new subject among those “which could appear to be the most interesting”. The directeur des Bâtiments Orry, who managed the State’s accounts, obviously judged it less costly to have one of the tapestries widened to fill in the end of the Dauphine’s bedroom,22 which has probably deprived us of very original compositions, because de Troy had already illustrated the most famous themes, those that benefitted from a strongly established iconographical tradition and from which it was not easy to deviate The Tapestry Set of the Story of Esther Placed on the tapestry looms of the Gobelins at the end of the 1730s in Michel Audran’s workshop, the cycle created by de Troy aroused true infatuation. The few hundred tapestries made between 1738 and 1797 – all in high-warp tapestry and woven in wool and silk except for four in low-warp made in Neilson’s workshop – show the impressive success of a tapestry set that was without any doubt the most frequently woven of the 18th century in France. 29 Only three cartoons had been delivered by de Troy in 1738 when the first tapestry set was begun by Audran under the expert eye of Jean-Baptiste Oudry to whom the Directeur général des bâtiments, Philibert Orry had assigned the (weekly) supervision of the weaving. During the summer of 1738, the piece of the Fainting of Esther, which Oudry judged to be admirable, was finished. During the winter of 1742, Oudry informed Orry that about two ells of the Triumph of Mor’decai had been made “with no faults”,that the Coronation of Esther was finished and that the Esther at her Toilet “a very gracious tapestry” was “a little over half” finished. Exhibited at Versailles in 1743, these two last pieces were admired by Louis XV and the Court. On 3 December 1744, the set of seven tapestries was finally delivered to the Garde Meuble. It was intended, the honour was not slight, to decorate the apartments of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain whose marriage to the young Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand had been fixed for the following year (it took place on 23 February 1745). Apparently it was thought that the theme of Esther the biblical heroine and wife of a foreign sovereign was appropriate for the apartments of the Spanish Dauphine. As early as the month of March, the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel informed de Troy that her grand cabinet was decorated with the “Esther tapestry set” specifying however that “for lack of two small or one large piece, we have not been able to decorate the end of the room”. This difficulty led immediately to the Banquet episode being woven a second time in two parts (they were delivered to the Garde-Meuble on 30 December 1746) to garnish the panels on each side of the bed of the Dauphine who would hardly enjoy them (she died on 22 July 1746 and the decoration was installed for the new Dauphine Maria Josepha of Saxony). The appearance of the set’s remarkable border, which imitated a richly sculpted wooden frame, should be mentioned. Conceived in 1738 by the ornamentalist Pierre Josse-Perrot and used in the later weavings until 1768, it tended to reinforce the resolutely painterly appearance of the tapestry set which, in this regard, pushed the art of tapestry as far as its ultimate mimetic possibilities. With the exception of Mor’decai's Disdain which had been removed earlier, the “editio princeps” of the story of Esther (from then on in nine pieces) remained at Versailles until the Revolution. Of the eight surviving tapestries, four are at the chateau of Compiègne and four belong today to the Mobilier National. No less than seven tapestry sets reputed to be complete (one of them in fact only had six tapestries) would be produced officially at the Gobelins up to 1772. Literature: 1- The Œuvres mêlées of an emulator of Racine, the Abbé Augustin NADAL thus include an Esther. Divertissement spiritual which is exactly contemporary with Jean François de Troy’s cycle since it was performed in 1735 and published in Paris three years later. 2-Le Siècle de Louis XIV, 1751, 1785 ed., p. 96-97 for French ed. 3- Lemoyne and de Troy had been obliged to share the First Prize in the competition organised in 1727 between the most prominent history painters of the Académie Royale. 4- Mémoires…, pub. L. DUSSIEUX et al., 1854, II, p.265. 5-The fact that de Troy, at the risk of falling out with his colleagues, did not hesitate to make use of prices in order to convince the new directeur des Bâtiments Philibert Orry, is confirmed by Mariette who adds tersely “it caused much shouting” (pub. 1851-1860, II, p. 103). 6- Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres…, ed. 1762, IV, p. 368-369 20 Early comments on the painter are inclined to present him as a kind of “pure painter”, doing without the medium of drawing, a few intermediary studies between the Esther sketches and the large cartoons at the Louvre nevertheless show that de Troy used red chalk (see in the catalogue, the notice for the Meal of Esther and Ahasuerus under the entry drawing) to change one or other figure. 7-C. GASTINEL-COURAL (cat. exp. PARIS, 1985, p. 9-13) as well as the article by J. VITTET, exh. cat. LA ROCHE-GUYON, 2001, p. 51-55. 8-The Hermitage in St. Petersburg conserves five tapestries of these two royal gifts whose provenance still awaits elucidation (as far as we are aware). In 1766, the Grand Marshal of Russia, Count Razumovski (or Razamowski), acquired the Fainting and the Banquet extracted from the sixth weaving (J. VITTET, 2001, p. 53). 9- Lettres écrites de Suisse, d’Italie…,quoted by J. VITTET, op. cit., p. 54. 10-The tapestry set remained in the hands of a branch of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family until 1933 (ibid. P. 54). 11-Quoted by Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, p. 97, note 269. 12-Y. CANTAREL-BESSON, 1992, p. 241. Catalogue The Esther at her Toilet Oil on canvas, 57 x 51 cm Provenance: Painted in 1736 at the same time as the six other modelli of the Story of Esther intended to be presented, for approval, to the direction des Bâtiments du Roi; perhaps identifiable among a lot of sketches by Jean-François de Troy in the post mortem inventory of the amateur, historian and critic Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786) drawn up on 13 January 1786 and following days (A.N. T 978, n° 30) then in the sale of the property of the deceased, Paris, 12 June 1786, n° 33; Paris, François Marcille Collection (who owned a series of six sketches from which the Triumph of Mor’decai was missing, see infra); Paris, Marcille Sale, Hôtel Drouot, 12-13 January 1857, n° 36; Asnières, Mme de Chavanne de Palmassy ( ?) collection; Paris, Galerie Cailleux; Paris, Humbert de Wendel collection (acquired from the Galerie Cailleux in 1928); by inheritance in the same family; Paris, Sotheby’s, 23 June 2011, n° 61. In order not to add unnecessarily to the technical commentary on each work, the catalogue raisonné by Chr. Leribault which contains a substantial bibliography on the series should be referred to. The other bibliographical references only concern the publications and exhibitions to have appeared and been presented more recently. Bibliography and Exhibitions: Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, n° P. 247 (repr.); E. LIMARDO DATURI, 2004, p. 28; Exh. cat. NANTES, 2011, p. 138, n° 34, referred to in note 1; Sotheby’s catalogue, Tableaux anciens et du XIXe siècle, 23 June 2011, n° 61 (repr.). Related Works: Tapestry cartoon: The cartoon (oil on canvas, 329 x 320 cm), the third made by the artist in Paris after the sketches had been approved by the direction des Bâtiments, is in the Louvre (Inv. 8315). It previously bore the painter’s signature and the date 1738 (inscriptions which are found on the tapestries). The royal administration paid 1600 livres for it on 21 June 1738 and it was exhibited at the Salon in the year of its creation. Summary Biography 1679 (27 January): Baptism in Paris (Parish of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet) of Jean-François de Troy, son of the painter François de Troy and Jeanne Cotelle, sister of the painter Jean II Cotelle. 1696-1698: Studies (apparently rather turbulent) at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. 1698-1708: First trip to Italy. Is obliged to leave Rome in January 1711 after a tempestuous affair (a duel?), de Troy extends the traditional Roman experience as a pensionnaire at the Académie de France by also visiting Tuscany where he stays for a long time, Venice (his art in face has a strongly Venetian character) and Genoa. 1708: De Troy (whose father had been elected Director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 7 July) is agréé and immediately received at the Académie with Apollo and Diana Piercing with their Arrows the Children of Niobe (Montpellier, Musée Fabre) on 28 July. 1710: First royal commission, paid for on 10 May (a sketch representing “the Promotion of the Order of the Holy Spirit” for the tapestry series of the History of the King). 1716: Jean-François de Troy is elected Assistant Professor at the Academy. 1720: He is appointed Professor. 1723: The artist creates the double portrait of Louis XV...
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