拍品專文
The first mention of the series is in a letter from Jean-Baptiste Oudry (d. 1755), the co-director of the Royal Beauvais tapestry workshop with Nicolas Besnier (d. 1754) from 1734 - 1753, to the Swedish superintedant of the Court Harleman, of 1747.
Le Sr Bouché me fais actuellement des tableaux pour une tenture qui represente les amours des dieux qui sera tres belle; illy a deja deux tableaux de fait.
He wrote to François Boucher (d. 1770) and mentioned two unspecified finished subjects of the series of The Loves of the Gods which consisted of nine subjects in all and which Boucher must have designed between 1747 and 1751. This, his fourth tapestry series supplied to the workshop, was very successful and woven no less than 34 times between 1747 and 1773, usually consisting of three to nine hangings. Nine sets alone were woven for the Royal collection or at least to function as Royal gifts. The first set was completed in 1750, consisting of eight pieces, for Filippo di Borbone, Infante of Spain, duca di Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, who married a daughter of Louis XV.
The subject of Mars and Venus was woven at least thirteen times between 1750 and 1772. Examples remain at the Quirinale Palace, Rome, The Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, and the Mobilier National, Paris.
(E. Standen, 'The Amours des Dieux: A Series of Beauvais Tapestries After Boucher', Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal, 1984 1985; N. Forti Grazzini, Il Patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Gli Arazzi, Rome, 1994, pp. 512 - 530: C. Bremer-David, French Tapestries & Textiles in The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1997, pp. 120 - 127).
Le Sr Bouché me fais actuellement des tableaux pour une tenture qui represente les amours des dieux qui sera tres belle; illy a deja deux tableaux de fait.
He wrote to François Boucher (d. 1770) and mentioned two unspecified finished subjects of the series of The Loves of the Gods which consisted of nine subjects in all and which Boucher must have designed between 1747 and 1751. This, his fourth tapestry series supplied to the workshop, was very successful and woven no less than 34 times between 1747 and 1773, usually consisting of three to nine hangings. Nine sets alone were woven for the Royal collection or at least to function as Royal gifts. The first set was completed in 1750, consisting of eight pieces, for Filippo di Borbone, Infante of Spain, duca di Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, who married a daughter of Louis XV.
The subject of Mars and Venus was woven at least thirteen times between 1750 and 1772. Examples remain at the Quirinale Palace, Rome, The Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, and the Mobilier National, Paris.
(E. Standen, 'The Amours des Dieux: A Series of Beauvais Tapestries After Boucher', Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal, 1984 1985; N. Forti Grazzini, Il Patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Gli Arazzi, Rome, 1994, pp. 512 - 530: C. Bremer-David, French Tapestries & Textiles in The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1997, pp. 120 - 127).