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Lot Essay
This series was first woven under Jean-Baptiste Hinart (d. 1697) when directeur of the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory and was continued under Philippe Behagle (d. 1705) who succeeded him in 1684. An artist named Firens is mentioned as its designer but not further elaborated upon. The series continued the tradition at Beauvais of verdure tapestries but in this case was enhanced with birds from the Versailles menagerie in the foreground.
Only very few tapestries were ever purchased by the Garde-Meuble from Philippe Behagle. An acquisition by the King for this chateau de Marly of a set of Verdures et Oiseaux in conjunction with a set of the Grotesques and Ports de Mer series is, however, mentioned for June of 1696. Upon Behagle's death two sets of this series were recorded on the looms of his workshop; the King's son, the comte De Toulouse, had commissioned one of them. An inventory drawn up on 26 April 1710 further mentions the cartoons for the series still in the workshop. Indeed, the widow of Behagle, Anne van Heuven (d. 1708), and her son Philippe continued the workshop and probably continued to use the same cartoons until the atelier was passed to Pierre and Etienne Filleul and Gabriel Danse in 1711 (J. Coural, Beauvais, Manufacture Nationale de Tapisserie, Paris, 1992, pp. 17 - 31).
Two tapestries from the Ports de Mer series with identical borders are illustrated in J. Boccara, Ames de Laine et de Soie, Saint-Rèmy-en-l'Eau, 1988, pp. 318 - 319, while a set of four tapestries from the Oiseaux de la Ménagerie series are at villa Mon Repos in Lausanne.
Only very few tapestries were ever purchased by the Garde-Meuble from Philippe Behagle. An acquisition by the King for this chateau de Marly of a set of Verdures et Oiseaux in conjunction with a set of the Grotesques and Ports de Mer series is, however, mentioned for June of 1696. Upon Behagle's death two sets of this series were recorded on the looms of his workshop; the King's son, the comte De Toulouse, had commissioned one of them. An inventory drawn up on 26 April 1710 further mentions the cartoons for the series still in the workshop. Indeed, the widow of Behagle, Anne van Heuven (d. 1708), and her son Philippe continued the workshop and probably continued to use the same cartoons until the atelier was passed to Pierre and Etienne Filleul and Gabriel Danse in 1711 (J. Coural, Beauvais, Manufacture Nationale de Tapisserie, Paris, 1992, pp. 17 - 31).
Two tapestries from the Ports de Mer series with identical borders are illustrated in J. Boccara, Ames de Laine et de Soie, Saint-Rèmy-en-l'Eau, 1988, pp. 318 - 319, while a set of four tapestries from the Oiseaux de la Ménagerie series are at villa Mon Repos in Lausanne.