TAPISSERIE D'AUBUSSON, SECOND HALF OF THE 18th CENTURY The flute lesson After a carton by Jacques-Nicolas Julliard (1715-1790) Woven in wool and silk; in the center, a flute-player accompanied by a young shepherdess, a dog and a sheep, a verdant landscape, a stream and a stone bridge in the background; the border in imitation of a frieze frame of foliage interspersed with garlands and flowers; wear and old restorations, reduced in height. Dimensions: 270 x 230 cm (106 ¼ x 90 ½ in.) Bibliography: P.-F. Bertrand, Aubusson tapestries of the Enlightenment. Splendors of the Royal Manufactory, Supplier of the Enlightenment, Ed. Snoeck Gent, 2013, p.161-162 An Aubusson tapestry depicting the flute's lesson, after a drawing by Jacques-Nicolas Julliard (1715-1790), second half of the 18th century The green landscape, stream and stone bridge in the background contribute to the bucolic atmosphere of this pastoral scene. The composition is enlivened by the intersecting vertical and oblique planes of the tree trunks, to which the parallel obliques formed by the flute and shepherd's crook respond. It parallels the tapestry entitled Le Cerf-volant (The Kite). Several examples were woven at the Aubusson factory, including one now in the Château de Panloy.