Description
Important fragment of the tapestry "Winter" of the hanging of the Seasons of the Gallery of Saint-Cloud, after Pierre Mignard. Border of ducks and fruits attributed to Blain de Fontenay, manufacture of Gobelins, attributed to the workshop of Leblond. Weaving of the beginning of the XVIIIth century. H: 1,83 - L: 3,82 m We can see Cybele goddess of the Earth between two lions imploring the return of the Sun, at her side Vulcan is heating himself at a brazier, and on the left, a man representing a river is leaning on an urn. Woven in low weave, lateral borders with ducks, fruits and fire pots, wool and silk with many brittlenesses, partly doubled, the upper part notably the sky seems to have undergone a resinous consolidation treatment. The theme of the Four Seasons, Parnassus and Latona was commissioned to Mignard in 1678 for the Duke of Orleans, brother of the king, for the gallery of Apollo at the Château de Saint-Cloud. The subjects were inspired by the Fables of Ovid (43 BC - 18 AD) and were engraved by Jean-Baptiste de Poilly (Cabinet des Estampes BN). But it was the Marquis de Louvois, Superintendent of Buildings, who had these themes transposed into tapestries for the Gobelins. The tapestry "L'hiver" was woven several times, in high and low weave, but this fragment with an inverted weave and a duck border corresponds to the wool and silk tapestry without gold of the workshop of Leblond, delivered to the furniture depository at the beginning of the XVIIIth century. This fragment represents about a quarter of the original tapestry. It is misleading because it obscures the other elements conceived by Mignard: in the second plan the sea, then at the top the Time or Saturn accompanied by the winged Genii, who throw from the top of the clouds rain and ice. A gold hanging is kept at the Mobilier National. The tapestry Winter has the inventory number GMTT-70-000. Bibliography: - Robert W. Berger, Pierre Mignard and Saint-Cloud, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1993, p. 21. - M. Fenaille, État Général des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins, t. 1600-1900, tome II, p. 400-418. - J. Guiffrey, Inventaire général des richesses d'art de la France, Paris, monuments civils, tome IV: Tapisseries du Garde-Meuble, Paris, 1913, p. 93. - Jean Vittet - Arnaud Brejon de Lavergnée, La collection de tapisseries de Louis XIV, Ed. Faton, 2010, p. 244-248.
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Important fragment of the tapestry "Winter" of the hanging of the Seasons of the Gallery of Saint-Cloud, after Pierre Mignard. Border of ducks and fruits attributed to Blain de Fontenay, manufacture of Gobelins, attributed to the workshop of Leblond. Weaving of the beginning of the XVIIIth century. H: 1,83 - L: 3,82 m We can see Cybele goddess of the Earth between two lions imploring the return of the Sun, at her side Vulcan is heating himself at a brazier, and on the left, a man representing a river is leaning on an urn. Woven in low weave, lateral borders with ducks, fruits and fire pots, wool and silk with many brittlenesses, partly doubled, the upper part notably the sky seems to have undergone a resinous consolidation treatment. The theme of the Four Seasons, Parnassus and Latona was commissioned to Mignard in 1678 for the Duke of Orleans, brother of the king, for the gallery of Apollo at the Château de Saint-Cloud. The subjects were inspired by the Fables of Ovid (43 BC - 18 AD) and were engraved by Jean-Baptiste de Poilly (Cabinet des Estampes BN). But it was the Marquis de Louvois, Superintendent of Buildings, who had these themes transposed into tapestries for the Gobelins. The tapestry "L'hiver" was woven several times, in high and low weave, but this fragment with an inverted weave and a duck border corresponds to the wool and silk tapestry without gold of the workshop of Leblond, delivered to the furniture depository at the beginning of the XVIIIth century. This fragment represents about a quarter of the original tapestry. It is misleading because it obscures the other elements conceived by Mignard: in the second plan the sea, then at the top the Time or Saturn accompanied by the winged Genii, who throw from the top of the clouds rain and ice. A gold hanging is kept at the Mobilier National. The tapestry Winter has the inventory number GMTT-70-000. Bibliography: - Robert W. Berger, Pierre Mignard and Saint-Cloud, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1993, p. 21. - M. Fenaille, État Général des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins, t. 1600-1900, tome II, p. 400-418. - J. Guiffrey, Inventaire général des richesses d'art de la France, Paris, monuments civils, tome IV: Tapisseries du Garde-Meuble, Paris, 1913, p. 93. - Jean Vittet - Arnaud Brejon de Lavergnée, La collection de tapisseries de Louis XIV, Ed. Faton, 2010, p. 244-248.
