The royal tapestry factory at Beauvais that was organized in 1664 on the initiative of the finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, at almost the same time as the Gobelins factory, enjoyed the patronage of the monarch, but was an independent enterprise headed by a director. The Hermitage tapestry belongs to a series known as Petites chasses et verdures [Little Hunts and Verdures]. Such series occupied a major place in the output of the Beauvais factory in the second half of the 17th century. Two horsemen (one of them apparently King Louis XIV) are shown against the background of a splendid forest landscape with scrupulously depicted large shady trees, mysterious distant depths showing between them, and individual plants in the foreground, all typical of works from the Beauvais factory. The tapestry is framed with a border with a grotesque pattern made up of acanthus shoots, flowers and trophies on a dark ground.
Title:
Tapestry: the Royal Hunt
Place of creation:
Manufacture, workshop, firm:
Royal Tapestry Manufactory, Beauvais; Begagle, Philip
Date:
Material:
Technique:
tapestry
Dimensions:
317x391 cm
Acquisition date:
Entered the Hermitage in 1950; handed over from the Board of Art Exhibitions and Panoramas
Inventory Number:
Т-15409
Category:
Collection:
Subcollection:
