Wool and Silk.
H. 9 ft. 4 in.
W. 6 ft. 8 in.
Another example in the Vienna Collection, No. 109.
Lent by Wildenstein & Company.
DECEMBER FROM THE "MONTHS" OF LUCAS: A nobleman greets a peasant woman and her child, while a man and woman carrying a baby wait for him. In the background a castle and people skating on the ice. The piece is incomplete.
This tapestry is from the same set as the preceding, but woven almost a century earlier, and it is interesting to contrast the changes that the change in taste has made in the feeling of the rendition and the color key. During the XVIIIth century the cartoon was refined with slight changes. The hand of the old man, for example, was modified to hold a fruit for the child. The piece probably is from the third or fourth weaving. If so, it was done on the horizontal looms in the atelier of Lefébvre, outside of the official work of the Gobelins.[30]
This is one of the few really successful renditions of a snow scene in tapestry.
59 BEAUVAIS, LATE XVII, EARLY XVIII CENTURY (1684-1711)
Wool and Silk.
H. 9 ft. 8 in.
W. 16 ft. 5 in.
Lent by P. W. French & Company.
CHINESE GROTESQUE: Under an arbor clowns conduct a circus. Above the arbor are scrolls, garlands, birds, musical instruments, and other decorations. On a yellow ground.
This is one of a famous series of grotesques by Berain on a yellow ground, woven several times at the Beauvais works when they were under the direction of Behagle.[31]
The entertaining fantasy of the conception, together with the delicate drawing and the beautiful ground color, makes this one of the finest grotesques of the XVIIIth century.
Jean Berain (1638-1711) was appointed in 1674 designer to the king, and in this position designed the scenery and costumes for the court ballets. He is famous for his decorations.