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Creator: Aubusson Manufacture
Verdure le chemin, French Greenery Tapestry by Manufacture Aubusson - N° 1514
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Verdure Le Chemin, Tapestry from the Aubusson Factory - Signed, Bolduc - 190lx110h - No. 1514
Weaver: Manufacture Aubusson
Era: 19th century
Style: Greenery
Condition: Perfect condi...
Category
19th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Tapestry Signed, Greenery Aubusson Manufactory, 19th Century - 80lx153h - N 1512
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Manufacture Aubusson
Era: 19th century
Style: Verdure
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width: 80 cm
Height: 153 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
This magnificent Aubusson greenery...
Category
1880s French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Greenery French Tapestry Aubusson Manufactory 19th Century - 142lx197h - N 1530
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century
Style: Greenery
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width: 142 cm
Height: 197 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
In keeping with tradition, this magnificent tapes...
Category
19th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Greenery Tapestry from the Aubusson Factory, 210lx170h - No. 1478
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width: 210 cm
Height: 170 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a F...
Category
1880s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Aubusson Tapestry "Mille Fleurs" Circa 1960 - 201lx145h Cm - No. 1481
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
1960s French French Provincial Vintage Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Dame à la licorne - Medieval tapestry Manufacture Aubusson 19th - N° 1355
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
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1850s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Manufacture Aubusson signed Tapestry 19th - Galante Scene - N° 1425
By Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
1860s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Verdure Aubusson Tapestry 19th Century - Numbered 2180 - No. 1410
By Aubusson Manufacture, Royal Manufacture of Aubusson
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
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1860s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Aubusson Tapestry 19th Century, Bolduc And Numbered - L155xH105 - N° 1422
By Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
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1860s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Exotic verdure or chinoiserie tapestry from Aubusson, end of 19th-20th century
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Lyon, FR
Wonderful Aubusson tapestry from the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century.
Wool and silk, it depicts an exotic or "chinoiserie" landscape, verdure (foliage) and waders, exo...
Category
Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Greenery Tapestry, Aubusson Manufactory 19th Century - L232XH174 - N 1519
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century
Style: Greenery
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool and silk
Width: 232 cm
Height: 174 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
In keeping with tradition, this magnificent tape...
Category
1840s French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Antique 19th Century French Aubusson Rococo Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
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 Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk, Tapestry
Adelyne Neveux, The Daisies - French Aubusson Tapestry, Atelier Legoueix - 1445
By Camille Legoueix Atelier, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
1960s French Aubusson Vintage Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Aubusson Tapestry 19th century, Monogramed J. Berton - 177lx80h - N 1484
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
1850s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Verdure tapestry Manufacture Aubusson - 19th century - L1m15xH1m24 - No. 1426
By Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
Late 19th Century French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French antique, Greenery Tapestry 19th century by Aubusson Manufactury - N° 1025
By Aubusson Manufacture
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 Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Red and Blue Horse, Franz Marc - French Aubusson Tapestry -152lxh112 - No. 1486
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
20th Century French Art Deco Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Greenery Tapestry, Roubert Fours Aubusson Factory - 90lx105h - No. 1492
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
20th Century French French Provincial Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Constellations, Jean Picart Le Doux - 20th Century Aubusson Tapestry from Maison
By Aubusson Manufacture, Jean Picart Le Doux
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: "constellations" By Jean Picart Le Doux
Era: 20th century
Style: Design 50s-60s
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool
Width: 138 cm
Height: 137 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Locate...
Category
20th Century French Modern Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
The Three Doves, Jean Picart Le Doux - French Tapestry Atelier Berthaut - N 1470
By Aubusson Manufacture, Jean Picart Le Doux
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: Charles Marcel Jean Picart Le Doux
Period: 20th century
Style: Design 50s-60s
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Tapestry
Width: 143 cm
Height: 113 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
The ...
Category
20th Century French Aubusson Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Rape of the Sabine women, antique Flemish Tapestry End of 16th century - N° 1473
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Rape of the Sabine Women, Flanders Tapestry, Late 16th Century - L4m22xh2m35 - No. 1473
Manufacture Des Flandres
Epoque: 16th century
Style: Haute époque-Renaissance-Louis XIII
Condi...
Category
16th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Tapestry, Genuine Jacquard in Medieval Style - H160xW142 cm - No. 1440
By Aubusson Manufacture, Royal Manufacture of Aubusson
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
19th Century French Medieval Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Fragonard Honore, The Happy Chances of the Swing - French Tapestry - No. 1451
By Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, (After) Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
1840s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Holly, Elie Grekoff - French Aubusson Tapestry, Edition E/A - 183lx115h - N 1511
By Aubusson Manufacture, Elie Grekoff
Located in Paris, FR
This magnificent Tapestry has benefited from a deep cleaning and a careful check by our experts in our artisanal Workshop. It is now ready to adorn your interior.
Artist: Elie Greko...
Category
20th Century French Modern Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Tapestry Signed By The Aubusson Factory, Circa 1860 - 278lx200h - No 1474
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
French Tapestry Signed By The Aubusson Factory, Circa 1860 - 278lx200h - No. 1474
This tapestry is a fine example of the 19th century Aubusson verdure. This type of tapestry is char...
Category
1860s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
The Enchanted Park - French Aubusson Tapestry Roubert FOUR - 175lx187h - N 1482
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
20th Century French Aubusson Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
19thc. French Antique Louis XVI style Floral Aubusson Wall Hanging / Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Opa Locka, FL
19thc French Antique Louis Rococo style Floral Aubusson Tapestry. I found this beauty in Nice France. There is a small stain on border top left. Not detracting at all. Birds, trees p...
Category
1880s Louis XVI Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Tapestry
signed French Grennery Tapestry Aubusson Manufactury 19th - L195xh170 - N 1493
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool and silk
Width: 195 cm
Height: 170 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a...
Category
19th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
18th Century Aubusson Verdure Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Los Angeles, CA
18th Century European Hand-Woven Aubusson Verdure Tapestry depicting a woodland nature scene. Made in France circa 18th Century. Finely woven with cloth backing.
Category
18th Century French Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Tapestry, Wool
French Tapestry, Atelier La Renaude - Princess of the Villa d'Este - No. 1472
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
20th Century French Aubusson Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Aubusson Tapestry signed 19th century - A couple of shepherds - No. 1369
By Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
Mid-19th Century French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Very large 1700's Aubusson Verdure Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in LYON, FR
Very large Aubusson Tapersty Circa 1720's.
‘Verdure’ (foliage) tapestries were woven throughout the 17th and 18th Centuries, featuring wooded landscapes, reflecting the interest in b...
Category
1720s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Tapestry by Flemish manufactury, "court Scene", Circa 1600 - No. 1456
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 17th century
Style: High period-Renaissance-Louis XIII
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width: 200 cm
Height: 320 cm (possibility to modify the height in ou...
Category
Early 1600s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Huge early 1700's Verdure Aubusson Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in LYON, FR
French Aubusson woven tapestry from the early 1700's depicting a lizard standing in luscious vegetation. Created in Aubusson, located in central France. Interestingly this vertical w...
Category
1720s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
18th Century French Handwoven Pastoral Verdure Aubusson Tapestry
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Dallas, TX
This large and elegant antique tapestry was crafted in Aubusson, France, circa 1760. The colorful wall piece features a country garden scene with goats, architectural elements and a ...
Category
Mid-18th Century French Louis XVI Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Tapestry
Jean Picart Le Doux, French tapestry Atelier Pinton, 1x6, L5m00xh2m00 - No. 1437
By Atelier Pinton, Jean Picart Le Doux, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: Jean Picart Le Doux
Period: 20th century
Style: Modern art
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool
Width: 500 cm
Height: 200 cm
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We...
Category
1960s French Aubusson Vintage Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Homage to Mozart, Jean Picart Le Doux - French Tapestry, Edition artist - N 1467
By Jean Picart Le Doux, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: Jean Picart Le Doux
Era: 20th century
Style: Design 50s-60s
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool - Hand made
Width: 200 cm
Height: 150 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Located a ston...
Category
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Tapestry, Genuine Jacquard in Medieval Style - H 131 x W 190 cm - N 1439
By Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business
specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of
tapes...
Category
19th Century French Medieval Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Modern French Tapestry, Atelier Felletin - Signed Couraud, Edition 1/4 - 1454
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
French Hand made Modern French Tapestry AUBUSSON, Atelier Felletin - Signed COURAUD Edition 1/4 - No. 1454
Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French fa...
Category
1960s French Aubusson Vintage Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Medieval Petit Point Tapestry Around 1980 - 1m37hx1m00l - N° 1146
By Aubusson Manufacture, Royal Manufacture of Aubusson
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
1980s French Aubusson Vintage Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Jean Picart Le Doux "nocturne" - French Aubusson Tapestry - No. 1428
By Aubusson Manufacture, Jean Picart Le Doux
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
Mid-20th Century French Aubusson Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
French Aubusson Greenery Tapestry 18th century - 165Lx215H cm - N° 1537
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 18th century
Style: Greenery
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool and silk
Width: 165 cm
Height: 215 cm
Depth: 1 cm.
In keeping with tradition, this magnificent tapes...
Category
18th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Aubusson Tapestry 19th - Champetre Scene - L 1m90 X H 1m55 - N° 1417
By Aubusson Manufacture, Royal Manufacture of Aubusson
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
1860s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
The Three Musicians in the taste Lancret Taste, French Tapestry 19th - N 1479
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
This tapestry has been cleaned, checked and doubled in our artisan workshop
In the taste Nicolas Lancret
Epoque: 19th century
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width...
Category
19th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Verdure Aubusson tapestry signed - Couple of Deer in an Undergrowth - No. 1414
By Aubusson Manufacture, Royal Manufacture of Aubusson
Located in Paris, FR
A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and
expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....
Category
1850s French Aubusson Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
French Signed Aubusson Tapestry, Hide-and-Seek Game Scene - 204X187cm - No. 1540
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Period: 19th century
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool & Silk
Width: 204 cm
Height: 187 cm
Depth: 1 cm
In keeping with tradition, this magnificent tapestry has undergone a...
Category
19th Century French French Provincial Antique Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool, Silk
Pierre-georges Theron - French modern Aubusson Tapestry - L1m95xh1m00 - N° 1491
By Aubusson Manufacture
Located in Paris, FR
Artist: Pierre-georges Theron
Era: 20th century
Style: Design 50s-60s
Condition: Perfect condition
Material: Wool
Width: 195 cm
Height: 100 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Located a stone's throw ...
Category
20th Century French Modern Aubusson Manufacture Tapestries
Materials
Wool
Tapestry Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period 1738 at the Gobelins
By Aubusson Manufacture
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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