18th-century Beauvais Tapestry
Manufacture de Beauvais fine wool and silk paneled tapestry depicting "Boreas abducting Orithye" in clouds after a carton by Le Brun. Circa 1680-1700.
Dimensions: 280x290 cm
Price: 8800 euros.
Our tapestry is part of a series of wall hangings "Aux Amours des Dieux", the archives bring to light at least two sets of tapestries depicting metamorphoses with characters of different sizes. The reconstruction of the first series remains unclear, but the second set, woven at both Beauvais and Les Gobelins with the same episodes: "Borée et Orithye" Pan et Syrinx" and "Alphée et Aréthuse" have come down to us...
This subject was commissioned by René Antoine Houasse, one of Le Brun's main collaborators at the Manufacture des Gobelins and on the Versailles site. Houasse had painted this set of cartons in the years 1670-1680. Note that an edition of "Borée et Orythie" was woven for Duke Maximilien Emmanuel of Bavaria, who, according to Philippe de Beghale, director of the Beauvais factory, "preferred my factory to the one in Brussels"... This proves the great finesse of the work of the Beauvais weavers.
History:
Erechtheus, King of Athens, fathered two daughters, among others. One of them, Procris, became the happy wife of Cephalus, a descendant of Aeolus. His other daughter, Orithye, was coveted by Boreas, the North Wind, who, unable to persuade her father to agree to their marriage, decided to kidnap her in a whirlwind. He shook his wings, whose beats spread his breath over the whole earth and sent shivers across the vast sea surface. Dragging his dusty cloak over the mountain peaks, he sweeps the earth and, protected by the darkness, the lover seizes his beloved, distraught with terror, in his tawny wings and takes her to the land of Thrace, where he marries her and makes her the mother of twins, Calaïs and Zétès, named the Bauréades, who, now grown up, will leave with the Mynians to conquer the Golden Fleece.
Related tapestries:
"Borée enlevant Orythie" Beauvais tapestry after Houasse at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Ensemble de tapisseries aux Amours des Dieux collection du Mobilier National under inventory number GMTT1275.
Dimensions: 280x290 cm
Price: 8800 euros.
Our tapestry is part of a series of wall hangings "Aux Amours des Dieux", the archives bring to light at least two sets of tapestries depicting metamorphoses with characters of different sizes. The reconstruction of the first series remains unclear, but the second set, woven at both Beauvais and Les Gobelins with the same episodes: "Borée et Orithye" Pan et Syrinx" and "Alphée et Aréthuse" have come down to us...
This subject was commissioned by René Antoine Houasse, one of Le Brun's main collaborators at the Manufacture des Gobelins and on the Versailles site. Houasse had painted this set of cartons in the years 1670-1680. Note that an edition of "Borée et Orythie" was woven for Duke Maximilien Emmanuel of Bavaria, who, according to Philippe de Beghale, director of the Beauvais factory, "preferred my factory to the one in Brussels"... This proves the great finesse of the work of the Beauvais weavers.
History:
Erechtheus, King of Athens, fathered two daughters, among others. One of them, Procris, became the happy wife of Cephalus, a descendant of Aeolus. His other daughter, Orithye, was coveted by Boreas, the North Wind, who, unable to persuade her father to agree to their marriage, decided to kidnap her in a whirlwind. He shook his wings, whose beats spread his breath over the whole earth and sent shivers across the vast sea surface. Dragging his dusty cloak over the mountain peaks, he sweeps the earth and, protected by the darkness, the lover seizes his beloved, distraught with terror, in his tawny wings and takes her to the land of Thrace, where he marries her and makes her the mother of twins, Calaïs and Zétès, named the Bauréades, who, now grown up, will leave with the Mynians to conquer the Golden Fleece.
Related tapestries:
"Borée enlevant Orythie" Beauvais tapestry after Houasse at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Ensemble de tapisseries aux Amours des Dieux collection du Mobilier National under inventory number GMTT1275.
8 800 €
Period: 18th century
Style: Louis 14th, Regency
Condition: Excellent condition
Material: Wool
Length: 280
Height: 290
Reference (ID): 1737267
Availability: In stock
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