This tapestry forms part of the celebrated 'Triomphes des Dieux' series, first woven at Gobelins circa 1686-1701 under the direction of the Marquis de Louvois and now at the château de Fontainebleau. Otherwise known as the 'Rabesques' or 'Arabesques du Raphaël', this series was inspired by a Renaissance weaving executed in Brussels after designs by Giulio Romano, which were in turn loosely related to Raphael's Vatican Loggia. The 'Triomphes des Dieux' comprised eight panels and depicted the triumphs of Bacchus, Venus, Apollo, Minerva, Mars, Hercules, Religion and Philosophy. With the exception of the Triomphe de la Philosophie, they were woven to the designs of the painter Noël Coypel (1628-1707) after the Brussels prototypes in the mobilier de la couronne, acquired by Louis XIV in 1673, but with various modifications and differing borders, for which Coypel received the sum of 24,000 livres. Several of the cartoons remain in the Musée du Louvre. Comprising, in total, eight panels, five entre-fenêtres and two allongés, this series was woven a further six times between 1690 and 1714. Employing gold thread in five of these, they were variously woven in the ateliers of Jans, Le Febvre, De La Fraye, De La Croix père, Le Blond and Sonet (M. Fenaille, Tapisseries des Gobelins, 1662-1699, Paris, 1904, Vol. II, pp. 220-245)
This tapestry is extremely closely related to the central section of the Triomphe d'Apollon (ibid., illustrated opposite p. 226), the central figure being replaced with that of a woman close to Coypel's figure of 'Religion'. It would appear that the 'Apollo' and another tapestry from the original series has been integrated
The design of the armorial cartouche, although closely related, is not identical with those adorning the rest of the series and may well, therefore, be associated
Related tapestries from this series were sold anonymously in these Rooms, 8 April 1976, lots 107 and 108, and the latter again on 1 July 1982, lot 2