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Lot Essay
This tapestry depicts the left portion of a design that originally extends to show a youth lying on a bed to the right. It is probable that it is meant to depict Diana awakening Endymion. Diana, the huntress and moon goddess, is here in the unusual role of lover and has fallen for the beautiful youth Endymion. There are several variants to this story; one describes that Endymion had been sent to sleep by Jupiter in return for having been granted perpetual youth, while another explains it as a punishment by Jupiter for Endymion having fallen in love with Jupiter's wife Juno. Diana who bore him 50 daughters visited him nightly while he lay asleep in a cave on Mount Latmus in Caria. Another myth tells that Endymion was put to sleep by Diana herself so that she might enjoy his beauty undisturbed.
A tapestry depicting the entire scene but lacking borders was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 19 May 1994, lot 351, and again 30 September 1999, lot 177. A tapestry incorporating a nearly identical pair of parrots and dogs to the lower and upper borders, depicting Eurydice bitten by the Snake is illustrated in G. Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, Tielt, 1999, p. 306.
A tapestry depicting the entire scene but lacking borders was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 19 May 1994, lot 351, and again 30 September 1999, lot 177. A tapestry incorporating a nearly identical pair of parrots and dogs to the lower and upper borders, depicting Eurydice bitten by the Snake is illustrated in G. Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, Tielt, 1999, p. 306.