1662 - RARE PAIR OF POLYCHROME WOOL AND SILK TAPESTRIES, FROM THE PAPAL TAPESTRY WORKSHOP OF SAN MICHELE A RIPA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF PIETRO FERLONI, ROME, MID-18TH CENTURY, depicting the Praying Virgin and Ecce Homo; set in Roman-style carved and gilded wooden frames; minor signs of wear.

RARE PAIR OF POLYCHROME WOOL AND SILK TAPESTRIES, FROM THE PAPAL TAPESTRY WORKSHOP OF SAN MICHELE A RIPA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF PIETRO FERLONI, ROME, MID-18TH CENTURY, depicting the Praying Virgin and Ecce Homo; set in Roman-style carved and gilded wooden frames; minor signs of wear. 74x55 cm and 72x55 cm. Tapestry production in Italy during the 18th century followed a different trajectory than that of the major European centers (Gobelins, Beauvais, Aubusson, and Brussels): the workshops were directly under the authority of the princes and carried out projects tied to specific local contexts. The San Michele a Ripa workshop, established in Rome and based in the hospice of the same name, was strictly bound to commissions from the Popes, though it allowed tapestry makers to accept private commissions. Established by Clement XI in 1703, the workshop remained active until 1870. Under the direction of Pietro Ferloni (from 1717 to 1770), its activities focused on three main areas: large decorative cycles; the reproduction of ancient tapestries from the Vatican collections; and the creation of portraits and devotional paintings, including the fine examples examined here, inspired by two paintings by Guido Reni now in the National Gallery of Palazzo Corsini in Rome. Bibliography: A.M. De Strobel, Roman Tapestry Workshops from the 17th to the 19th Century, Rome, 1989 C. Pietrangeli, “The Tapestry Paintings of the S. Michele Workshop,” in *L’Urbe*, 1984, N.S. 47/84, pp. 89–94 G. Bertini, N. Forti Grazzini, The Tapestries of the Farnese and Bourbon Families: Collections from the 16th–18th Centuries, Milan, 1998.