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Lot Essay
This tapestry combines two subjects from a rare series of The Muses designed by Charles Le Brun (d. 1690) probably still for Nicolas Fouquet in the late 1650s or early 1660s. To the right it depicts Urania and to the left Cupid. The compositions of this series were originally designed to decorate a ceiling at the château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and comprised allegories of the nine muses plus Cupid. The designs were then translated into cartoons by Baudouin Yvart, François Bonnemer and Claude Audran for weaving at the newly established Gobelins tapestry workshop in 1663.
One set of six tapestries of this series woven with gold-thread was given to the ambassador of Moscow in 1668, while three other sets, also woven with gold-thread, were recorded in the the French Royal Collection in 1775 and again in 1789. Thereafter the Royal sets were either cut up or burned to recover the gold thread. A further set, also including gold-thread was in the collection of Colbert.
(M. Fenaille, Etat Général des Tapisseries de la Manufacture des Gobelins, Paris, 1903, vol. II, pp. 37 - 40)
One set of six tapestries of this series woven with gold-thread was given to the ambassador of Moscow in 1668, while three other sets, also woven with gold-thread, were recorded in the the French Royal Collection in 1775 and again in 1789. Thereafter the Royal sets were either cut up or burned to recover the gold thread. A further set, also including gold-thread was in the collection of Colbert.
(M. Fenaille, Etat Général des Tapisseries de la Manufacture des Gobelins, Paris, 1903, vol. II, pp. 37 - 40)