Charles Antoine Coypel (1694-1752) entered the Academy in 1715, and the next year made a series of twenty-eight designs illustrating Don Quixote for the Gobelins. A second important series which he designed for the Gobelins illustrated scenes from the theatre. He was a favorite painter of Queen Marie Leczinska. He wrote several comic dramas and had an interest in an understanding of the theatre which is reflected in his tapestry designs, which are conceived always as a theatrical scene in a stage setting, with actors making the proper expressive gestures.
63 PARIS, XVIII CENTURY
Wool and Silk.
Oval;
H. 28 in.
W. 23 in.
Lent by Jacques Seligmann & Company.
BACCHANTE: A young bacchante wearing a tigerskin and holding Pan's pipes. In an oval panel.
This panel is after a portrait by Coypel. Though it does not appear on the official registers of the Gobelins, the technique would indicate that it was probably by a Gobelins weaver, who quite often worked outside of the official orders.
The delicate execution reproduces faithfully the piquant charm of the painting; even the most delicate gradations of tones are exactly reproduced.
64. GOBELINS, XVIII CENTURY
Wool and Silk.
H. 25 in.
W. 21 in.
Illustrated: Böttiger, Svenska Statins Samling, vol. 2, pl. XLI; Fénaille, Etat général des Tapisseries de la Manufacture des Gobelins, Dix-huitième Siècle, 2me Partie, p. 311; as portrait of Louis XVI, in Migeon, Les Arts de Tissu, p. 335.
Lent by P. W. French & Company.
PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XV: This portrait, after a painting by Van Loo made for the Gobelins in 1760, is one of a series of the royal family. It is in the original frame.
While tapestry is not an appropriate medium for portraiture, a portrait is the supreme test of the skill of the weaver. In this piece the effect of the painting is reproduced with remarkable fidelity. The warp is vertical.