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Material: Silk
Antique Handcrafted needlepoint depicting a classical romanticized Orientalist
Located in Port Washington, NY
This needlepoint is a handcrafted piece depicting a classical or romanticized Orientalist scene, possibly inspired by Ancient Rome, Persia, or the Ottoman Empire.
The woman lounging ...
Category
Early 20th Century French Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Late 19th Century Silk Ikat Uzbekistan Tribal Weaving
Located in New York, NY
Gorgeous handwoven silk Ikat weaving in rich magenta, gold and purple color, circa late 19th-early 20th century, Uzbekistan, Central Asia, on the ancient...
Category
Late 19th Century Uzbek Tribal Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Antique Square 16th Century Gold Brown Flemish Renaissance Tapestry Nobleman
Located in New York, NY
Tapestries were ubiquitous in the castles and churches of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. At a practical level, they provided a form of insulation and decoration that could be easily transported. In addition, the process of tapestry weaving, where every stitch is placed by hand, enabled the creation of complex figurative images on an enormous scale.
This is an excellent example of 16th century Flemish Renaissance Tapestry...
Category
16th Century Belgian Renaissance Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Tapestry, Silk, Wool
Ottoman Silk Red Tulip Hand Embroidered Suzani Tapestry
Located in London, GB
Suzani tapestries are a type of embroidered textile that originated in Central Asia, and were popular throughout the Ottoman Empire. These decorative textiles were hand-crafted by sk...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Suzani Silk Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Silk
$2,308 Sale Price
20% Off
Late 19th Century Uzbekistan Nurata Suzani Textile, Embroidered Wall Tapestry
Located in Dallas, TX
78198 Rare Late 19th Century Antique Uzbek Nurata Suzani Tapestry, 03'06 x 05'01. Immerse yourself in the rarefied elegance of this Late 19th Century Antique Uzbek Nurata Suzani Tape...
Category
Mid-19th Century Uzbek Suzani Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Silk
$29,600 Sale Price
20% Off
Antique Flemish Tapestry Verdure Bird Wool & Silk 115cmx168cm Green 4x6 C.1880
Located in New York, NY
Antique Flemish Tapestry Verdure Flamingo Bird Wool & Silk 115cmx168cm Green 4x6 C.1880
115cm x 168cm
"This is a magnificent Antique Flemish Tapestry in Wool & Silk. It has a sce...
Category
1880s French Rococo Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Antique Sampler, 1834, By Mary Thornhill
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
William IV Sampler, 1834, By Mary Thornhill. The sampler is worked in silk threads on a linen ground. Meandering strawberry border. Colours green, gold, silver, pink, brown and blue....
Category
1830s Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Antique 17th Century Baroque Italian Silk, Metallic Thread Embroidery Panel
Located in New York, NY
Fine 17th century Baroque period silk and metallic thread embroidery panel.
Excellent vibrant colors of bold burgundy, pale cream and beautiful, elegant teal with a border of textur...
Category
17th Century Italian Baroque Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Metallic Thread
Ottoman Pomegranate Silk Hand Embroidered Tapestry
Located in London, GB
Rich in history and artistry, our Ottoman Pomegranate Motif Silk Hand-Embroidered Suzani Tapestry is a masterpiece of traditional craftsmanship. Inspired by the opulence of the Ottom...
Category
2010s Turkish Islamic Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
$1,923 Sale Price
30% Off
Lilly STEINER by Atelier Simone ANDRE, French Aubusson moderne tapestry - N 1556
Located in Paris, FR
Atelier Simone ANDRE, Aubusson Tapestry based on a cartoon by Lilly STEINER - L227xH110 cm - No. 1556
Artist: After a Cartoon by Lilly Steiner
Era: 20th Century
Style: Modern Art
Co...
Category
20th Century French Modern Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
21x36 in Contemporary 100% Silk Wall Hanging. Embroidered Tablecloth. 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 Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Vintage Venetian Renaissance Style Brocade Panels, 100% Silk, Italy, C.1970's
Located in Chatham, ON
Rare and grand Venetian Renaissance style silk brocade panels (two panels per length - total of three sets available as one continuous length or sold separately) - opulent woven patt...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Renaissance Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Art Nouveau Embroidery, early 20th C. France
Located in Istanbul, TR
A rare item to comedy, has some over all ware., some structural damages. No lining.
Category
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Silk Tapestries
Materials
Metallic Thread
Antique 19th Century French Aubusson Rococo Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
This is a lovely antique 19th century square French Aubusson tapestry depicting a on a beautiful spring day in the countryside with lush trees and vegetation with a woman on a swing and her husband and two children beside her.
It is a lovely silk and wool tapestry with in the classic Rocco style...
Category
19th Century French Rococo Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Tapestry, Wool, Silk
$15,600 Sale Price
20% Off
Mid 19th Century Hand Embroidered “Kashmiri Pieced Shawl” in “Butterfly” Pattern
Located in Barrington, IL
An exceptional and museum-worthy textile, this mid-19th century Kashmiri Pieced Shawl is a rare and exquisite example of the artistry and craftsmanship of Kashmir’s textile tradition...
Category
Mid-19th Century Indian Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton, Silk
Early 20th Century Chinese Silk Embroidery ( 16'6" x 22' - 503 x 670 )
Located in New York, NY
Early 20th Century Chinese Silk Embroidery ( 16'6" x 22' - 503 x 670 )
Category
Early 1900s Chinese Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
$73,500 Sale Price
25% Off
17th Century Monumental Tapestry/Gobelin Audience with the King in Antiquity
Located in Berlin, DE
17th Century Monumental Tapestry/Gobelin Audience with the King in Antiquity
Extremely beautiful antique Gobelein tapestry, France probably arou...
Category
17th Century French Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Antique 17th Century Flemish Verdure Tapestry, with Exotic Birds in a Landscape
Located in New York, NY
An antique Flemish landscape verdure tapestry from the late 17th century, envisioning two exotic birds in an idyllic woodland setting, with a stream separating the foliage in foregro...
Category
Late 17th Century Belgian Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Fine Quality Embroidery on Silk - Qing Dynasty, China, Mid 19th Century
Located in Chatham, ON
Antique fine quality - Qing Dynasty - forbidden or seed stitch silk embroidery panel - metallic and silk threads - densely packed embroidery on a light weight damask pattern silk - m...
Category
Mid-19th Century Chinese Chinese Export Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Framed Antique Chinese Embroidery Qing Dynasty Provenance
Located in Atlanta, GA
A Chinese antique embroidery presented in a museum quality frame, originally purchased from Galerie Du Monde in Hongkong. Originally, the te...
Category
19th Century Chinese Chinese Export Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Linen, Silk, Wood
4.4x4.8 Ft Embroidered Silk Wall Hanging. Modern Table Cover. New Bedspread
Located in Spring Valley, NY
Introducing our exquisite new suzani hand embroidered wall hanging, a captivating piece that combines ancient craftsmanship with modern artistry. This embroidered cloth is not just a...
Category
2010s Central Asian Suzani Silk Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Silk
Antique Little French Embroidery
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Beautiful late 19th century French embroidery with silk, originally, seat cover element.
Take a look at other Bobyrug items! , search by "Bobyrug" !
Category
Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
$360 Sale Price
20% Off
Nice French modern needlepoint Tapestry « Toffoli »
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
« La maternité » maternity
Discover the exquisite beauty of this authentic needlepoint tapestry, meticulously hand embroidered . this masterpiece features a captivating design by L...
Category
Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Cotton, Silk
$1,480 Sale Price
20% Off
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 Silk Tapestries
Materials
Metallic Thread
31"x30" ALL SILK Brand-New Wall Hanging, Handmade Wall Art, Embroidered Tapestry
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 Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
Japanese Silk Embroidery Tapestry Meiji Period
Located in Atlanta, GA
A spectacular Japanese embroidered silk panel beautifully presented in a gilt frame suspended in a lucite shadow box with gilt wood border. The silk picture is dated to 1890-1910s toward the end of Meiji Period, when Japanese started to participate international expose by presenting its best art and craft. Elaborate embroidered silk tapestry like this was very popular among westerners due to its superb craftmanship and also exotic subject matter that was often derived from classic Japanese folklore, mythology and various motifs. The tapestry on offer is such an example. It depicts an old couple...
Category
1890s Japanese Japonisme Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Fabric, Silk, Lucite
French antique, Greenery Tapestry 19th century by Aubusson Manufactury - N° 1025
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool
Width: 1m60
Height: 1m25
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
spe...
Category
19th Century French French Provincial Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Roman Triumph - Fine Brussels Tapestry from 16th Century - 355lx300h - No. 1507
Located in Paris, FR
Manufacture Des Bruxelles
Epoque: 16th century
Style: Rome and Ancient Greece
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width: 355 cm
Height: 300 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Roman Tri...
Category
16th Century Belgian French Provincial Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
4.3x5.3 Ft Embroidered Silk, Cotton Wall Hanging. Pink Bed Cover. New Tablecloth
Located in Spring Valley, NY
Introducing our exquisite new suzani hand embroidered wall hanging, a captivating piece that combines ancient craftsmanship with modern artistry. This embroidered cloth is not just a...
Category
2010s Central Asian Suzani Silk Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Silk
$499 Sale Price
30% Off
Late 17th Century Franco-Flemish Rustic Tapestry
Located in New York, NY
A Franco-Flemish rustic tapestry, possibly Lille or Aubusson, from the late 17th century, featuring a rustic scene with a group of people singing and playing music in a verdant setti...
Category
Late 17th Century European Rustic Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
$27,995 Sale Price
41% Off
Tibetan Thangka of Sakyamuni with Silk Brocade, C. 1880
Located in Chicago, IL
Historically in Buddhist Tibet, patrons and monks commissioned thangka art, or sacred painting, to focus their meditations and prayers. This 19th-century Tibetan Thangka, painted in rich red, green, and blue pigments, still maintains incredible vibrancy. The central figure is the Sakyamuni Buddha, seated in the diamond position with alms bowl...
Category
Late 19th Century Tibetan Tibetan Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Linen, Silk
Framed Antique Chinese Textile
Located in Delray Beach, FL
A spectacular antique Chinese embroidery panel dated from (circa 19th century), professionally framed with linen mat, purchased from A...
Category
19th Century Chinese Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Bamboo, Silk
$1,600 Sale Price
33% Off
Antique 18th Century Flemish Mythological Tapestry, with the Greek Deity Apollo
Located in New York, NY
An antique 18th century Flemish mythological tapestry, size 11'0 H x 12'6 W. This period European tapestry depicts the Greek God Apollo, who is the deity of the arts, poetry, crops, ...
Category
18th Century Belgian Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
$25,996 Sale Price
20% Off
18th Century French Felletin Chinoiserie Mythological Tapestry w/ Trees & Satyrs
Located in New York, NY
An 18th century French Felletin chinoiserie mythological tapestry, size 11'6"H x 17'9"W.
This grand mythological tapestry depicts a mythological forest scene, with various satyrs and other mythological figures reveling in Dionysian fashion in the confines of the woodland setting. Finely detailed, with nimble articulation of figures and form, the piece also incorporates chinoiserie motifs, with stylized trees and bushes that have Oriental styling. The lower right corner of the primary field features both the town mark and weaver's mark, as well as the French symbol of the fleur de lis. The tapestry is enclosed within an elaborate outer border, featuring pendant...
Category
18th Century French Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
$199,996 Sale Price
20% Off
Antique Miniature Sampler with House
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Georgian Miniature Sampler with a House. The sampler is worked in wool and silk threads on a linen ground, mainly in cross stitch. Colours green, yellow, light brown, silver, blue an...
Category
Early 19th Century Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
17th Century Fine Flemish Tapestry, Silk & Wool, Green, Blue, Red, Battle Scene
Located in Port Washington, NY
The tapestry shown here is a magnificent example of 17th-century European artistry, likely influenced by the grand tradition of tapestry weaving that flourished in France and Flander...
Category
Mid-17th Century French French Provincial Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
$79,199 Sale Price
20% Off
Antique Sampler, 1840, By Elizabeth Ann Fox
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Victorian Sampler, 1840, By Elizabeth Ann Fox. The sampler is worked in silk threads on a linen ground, mainly in cross stitch. Meandering strawberry border. Colours green, dark brow...
Category
1840s Antique Silk Tapestries
Materials
Silk
4.2x6 Ft Embroidered Silk & Cotton Wall Hanging. Blue Bed Cover. New Tablecloth
Located in Spring Valley, NY
Introducing our exquisite new suzani hand embroidered wall hanging, a captivating piece that combines ancient craftsmanship with modern artistry. This embroidered cloth is not just a...
Category
2010s Central Asian Suzani Silk Tapestries
Materials
Cotton, Silk
$571 Sale Price
20% Off
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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