THE FRAME OF LOUIS XVI STYLE, 19TH CENTURY, THE TAPESTRY CIRCA 1746-1762, AFTER FRANÇOIS BOUCHER

This screen panel originally almost certainly formed part of a room decorated entirely with tapestries depicting scenes from the Beauvais series 'Les Fêtes Italiennes'. François Boucher designed the series upon his return from Italy and as first commission for Beauvais with the first weaving started in 1736. The designs appear to have been supplied in two groups of four paintings, one in 1736 and the second, to which 'La Musique' belongs, in 1746. The series enjoyed considerable success with 34 full or partial weavings recorded between 1736 and 1762. Two drawings specifically relating to the two musicians depicted remain, one of the violinist in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and the other of the flute player in a private collection in Paris. Five screen panels of this subject are recorded: One illustrated in J. Badin, La Manufacture de Tapisseries de Beauvais, Paris 1909, opposite p. VII of the introduction, one at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, one in the Palazzo Bianco, Genova (H. Göbel, Die Wandteppiche und ihre Manufakturen in Franreich, Italien, Spanien und Portugal, Leipzig, 1928, fig. 257), one in the Comte Greffulhe collection, sold Sotheby's London, 23 June 1937, lot 59, and one in the Harry Payne Whitney collection, sold Parke-Bernet, 29 April 1942, lot 107.

E. Standen, 'Fetes Italiennes: Beauvais tapestries after Boucher in The Metropolitan Museum of Art', Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1977, vol. 12, pp. 107-130.