MANUFACTURE DES GOBELINS. - Lot 163

MANUFACTURE DES GOBELINS. Renaud and Armide, panel from the Metamorphoses hanging. Wool and silk tapestry (wear and tear, old door cutout lower left, no border). Carton by Yvart le fils, Chastelain and Belin de Fontenay after a painting by Louis de Boulogne presented at the 1704 Salon. Circa 1704-1730. Height 247 cm - Width 473 cm Provenance: probably purchased before 1900 by Maurice ROBERT de MASSY (1844-1928), prefect from 1877 to 1885 (Meuse, Orne, and Basses-Pyrénées), for his château de la Varenne in Hainronville (Meuse), then by descent. In photo, the tapestry at Château de la Varenne in 1935. Note: Our tapestry is probably the copy woven for the King between 1717 and 1720 in Jean Souet's basse lice workshop. Indeed, it is the only weaving known to date that presents an inverted composition in relation to the painting that served as its model, due to its weaving on a basse lice loom, and whose dimensions, once corrected for the border that has now disappeared, correspond to those of the weaving executed for the King. The panel was acquired with the entire seven-piece hanging by Madame de Pompadour in 1760, probably to decorate her Château de Ménars. Other Arnaud et Armide weavings appear in prestigious collections such as those of the King of Spain and Baron Edmond de Rothschild. For further information: https://www.lefloch-drouot.fr/uploads/File/renaud-et-armide.pdf