This set of fifteen tapestries is the first to be woven with the story of Don Quixote at the Manufacture des Gobelins. The series was first woven under the directorship of Robert de Cotte (1656-1735), Royal Architect in Chief and Director of the Gobelins (1699-1735). At least nine separate weavings are known with six different borders (alentours), the first from 1717, the last from 1778.

The first mention of the series appears in the Comptes des Bâtiments, for 1^.. December 1714 and concerns a payment to Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay of 1,100 livres for the painting of Don Quichotte qui croit recevoir l'ordre de chevalerie, specifically intended to be woven at the Gobelins. The cartoons for the central panels were painted by Charles-Antoine Coypel (1694-1752). All but one of the twenty-eight cartoons that he produced between 1714 and 1751 are at the Château de Compiègne. The fifteen cartoons for this first weaving were executed between 1714 and 1718. Coypel received 400 livres for each of the first twelve and 550 livres for each of the last three. A descriptive list of the cartoons is given in M. Fenaille, Etat Général des Tapisseries de la Manufacture des Gobelins..., part I, 1699-1736, Paris, 1904, pp. 164-165.

The decorative borders, known as alentours, which appear on each of the tapestries were a revolutionary design and appear for the first time on this series. The design was supplied by Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay (d. 1715), peintre fleuriste du Roi au Gobelins, a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. It is likely that the payment of 1,100 livres noted above was for this border design. This design was adapted by Claude III Audran (1658-1734) in 1717 for the three larger compositions in the set and a payment to him of 900 livres is recorded in the Comptes des Bâtiments for 15 January 1718. In addition, a payment to Audran of 650 livres on 15 January 1717 specifically related to the model for the borders implies that he may have been also involved from the outset.

The tapestries of this set were woven in the haute lisse ateliers of Jean Jans fils (1668-1723) and Jean Le Febvre fils (1699-1736). There are small differences in the alentours used by each atelier for the twelve smaller tapestries but there are no differences, except for the shading inside the helmet, on the three larger tapestries.

Fenaille was aware of only one set of tapestries from this first weaving which he discusses op.cit., pp. 190-191. Reproduced below is his Tableau de la Fabrication de la Première Tenture in which he lists each of the fifteen tapestries and all other relevant information, including the cost of each, taken from the carnet of the Duc d'Antin, Surintendant des Bâtiments 1708-1736). At the date of publication of Fenaille's work (1904), eleven of the tapestries from this set belonged to the Marquis de Vennevelle in Paris. Fenaille was not aware of the location of the remaining four, however it appears likely that they were with another part of the family and came to be reunited before their sale in Paris in 1953 when they were bought by Patiño.

Although it is not known for whom the tapestries were originally intended, it is likely that they were intended to be sold as a set rather than be purchased or given away separately as happened later with much of the Gobelins' production. The Gobelins archives yield no information as to for whom they were intended, although it must have been someone of considerable means or importance. One possibility is the Comte de Toulouse, legitimised son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, who in 1716 charged Robert de Cotte with the decoration of his Hôtel particulier in Paris. The decoration of the boiserie sculpted by Antoine Vasse in the Galerie dorée is similar to that of the Don Quixote series. Another interesting possibility is raised by the visit of Tsar Peter the Great to the Gobelins in June 1717 where he saw these tapestries being woven, recorded in an extract from the Mercure de France, reproduced below:-
Le 15 au matin, étant retourné aux Gobelins, il (le Czar Pierre le Grand) prit plaisir à voir travailler: Entre plusieurs pièces de Tapisserie qu'on lui exposa, il fut
épris de l'Histoire de Dom Quichotte, dont les dessins
sont du jeune M. Coëpel: Le Roy lui en a fait présent du dessin, avec quelques autres.
(Mercure, juin 1717, p. 193.)

The young Louis XV presented him with a drawing, presumably a sketch by Coypel, related to the series. Possibly the set was intended as a diplomatic gift which for whatever reason did not materialise. An examination of Fenaille's Tableau des Tentures de Don Quixote, op.cit., pp. 281-282, shows that the majority of the weavings were given as gifts rather than sold, the second weaving being given by Louis XV to the Prince du Campo-Florido in 1745. The third weaving of 1733, now in the Louvre, was given by Louis duc d'Orléans to the Comte d'Argenson (see: Cinq années d'enrichessement du Patrimoine national, 1975-1980, Grand Palais, 1980-1981, no. 60). The fourth of 1746 was sold to Philippe, Duc de Parme in 1749. Only one set was retained by Louis XV; twelve out of a total of twenty-four from the fifth weaving from 1749 being sent to Marly in 1758.

The story of Don Quixote, as stated earlier, proved popular throughout the 18th century, and was woven at at least nine separate weavings . Numerous pieces survive from these later weavings in both public and private collections. Four tapestries from the fifth or Marly weaving were purchased by the Duke of Richmond and remain at Goodwood House, Sussex. Another from this weaving, reputedly given by Napoleon to the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1810, was sold in these Rooms, 22 June 1989, lot 49. A set of four from the eighth weaving, originally given in 1786 by Louis XVI to the Duc and Duchesse de Saxe-Teschen, is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (A. Sassoon and G. Wilson, A Handbook of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1986, n. 223). Other pieces from this weaving are in the collection of the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle.


THE STORY OF DON QUIXOTE

Alonso Quixano, a gentleman of La Mancha, lives with his housekeeper and niece and is obsessed with reading books of chivalry. The message contained in these books is so illogical that he loses his reason. Inspired by the heroes of these books, such as Palmerin of England and Amadis of Gaul (whose names also appear on the tapestries) he becomes a knight-errant, both to increase his own honour and to be of service to the public. Having shined up his great-grandfather's suit of armour, renamed himself Don Quixote de la Mancha and his horse Rosinante, and chosen a country girl called Aldonza Lorenza, renamed Dulcinea del Toboso, for his ideal lady, he sets out on his quest. He is knighted by the innkeeper whose inn he mistakes for a great castle. He convinces a peasant, Sancho Panza, to be his squire on the promise that he will conquer an island and make him governor. The book relates their numerous adventures, many of the best-known of which were selected for the tapestry series. Finally, cured of his madness and disillusioned with his books of chivalry, Quixote falls ill and dies.



CERVANTES

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), the author of Don Quixote, was the fourth son of an impoverished surgeon at the University of Alcala de Henares. He was born into Spain's golden age when Cortez and Pizarro conquered the New World, whose gold financed the military ambitions of Charles V and Phillip II, and lived to witness its eventual decline. Cervantes went to Rome aged twenty in the service of the Cardinal Nuncio Acquaviva, before joining the army and fighting against the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto where he lost his left hand. Undeterred, he rejoined the army and fought at La Goleta and campaigned in Italy and North Africa. Whilst returning to Spain with his brother Rodrigo, their ship was captured by pirates, and, sold into slavery, he was held captive by the infamous Dey of Algiers, Hassan Pacha. After many failed escape attempts, he was released five years later on payment of a ransom.

Upon his return to Spain in 1580, Cervantes began, rather unsuccessfully, to write plays for the theatre, before becoming a commissary, collecting food rations for the famous Armada, during which period he learned to understand the mentality of the Spanish peasant, which was to be invaluable for the character of Sancho Panza in Don Quixote.

Don Quixote was first published in 1604 and was a tremendous success, with six editions a year. He started Part II in 1614, and completed it just before his death in 1616. Despite Cervantes' other popular works, such as Exemplary Novels and The Troubles of Persiles and Sigismunda, it is for Don Quixote that he is most famous. Much of his own experience is injected into the story, and Don Quixote shares the same strong sense of purpose and belief in religious orthodoxy and military heroism as his author, as well as meeting with comparable misfortune and disillusion along the way.


ANTENOR PATIÑO

The Collection of French Eighteenth Century Furniture formed by the Patiño family is certainly one of the greatest collections of the twentieth century. The founder of the family fortune and earliest collector was the Bolivian tin millionaire, Simon I. Patiño. This collection was much widened by his son, Antenor Patiño, who housed it in the splendid surroundings of the Quinta Patiño, Estoril, Portugal. Following his death in 1982, much of the collection was sold Sotheby's, New York, 1 November 1986.