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Francois Boucher tapestries
Francois Boucher (1703 - 1770) was a celebrated French painter most famous for his pastoral and mythological art. A leading proponent of the rococo style he was heavily influenced by early 18th century landscape artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684 - 1721) and had a massive influence on French art during his lifetime.
Focusing on romantic themes and idyllic landscapes he developed a distinctive style much copied during his career. He was seen as the embodiment of the rococo style which emphasized elegance over reality and was associated with the reign of Louis XV.
Francois Boucher tapestries have enjoyed considerable popularity mainly because of their depiction of romantic scenes and idealized pastoral landscapes that are more popular today than ever.
The following romantic tapestries show the depth of Boucher's skill in draftsmanship and composition and demonstrate the reason for his lasting popularity.
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$150.00
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$235.00
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$345.00
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Price:
$999.00
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Price:
$186.00
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$398.00
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$516.00
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$516.00
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Price:
$162.00
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$250.00
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18th CENTURY ITALIAN TAPESTRIES
The Closing of the Medician Tapestry Workshops
Italy had long possessed her own tapestry traditions, enriched in the 18th century by the returnm in 1703, of Termini. On arrival in Florence, he at once asked a clearly Rococo painter, Sagrestani, for cartoons. In the Four Quarters of the Globe his designs were well interpreted by the weavers, Leonardo Bernini and Vittorio Demignot.
An exquisite range of soft and mellow tints creates the luminous effect of mother-of-pearl and gives them an unusual richness. After these came the Elements, begun with the four portieres, from cartoons mostly by Sagrestani. They were to form a series of great tapestries with allusive mythological subjects, a style which still endured in Florence! Only two were woven, the Rape of Proserpine [designed by Grisoni] and the Fall of Phaeton [designed by Vincenzo Meucci]. They are penetrated with a curious undulating light which seems to shroud the protagonists. The Fall of Phaeton was completed in 1737, the year in which, on the death of Gian Gastone, the Medici dynasty ended. The tapestry works did not survive him.
Papal Tapestry Workshops
There were still other workshops in Italy – the Ospizio di S. Michele a Ripa in rome , for example founded in 1710 by Pope Clement XI Albani, who appointed the French Weaver, Signoret, as director, and the painter, Andrea Procaccini, as chief designer. In 1717 Pietro Ferloni became director and held the post until 1770. The production was very varied – sacred themes treated cycles [and often inspired by paintings], portraits, holy pictures, minor decorative themes, copies of ancient tapestries and wooded landscapes with figures.
The workshop of S, Michele a Ripa was closed in 1798
Turin
The restoration of the Turin royal palace in 1730, by Filippo Juvara undoubtedly contributed to the establishment of a tapestry workshop at the court of Savoy.
Tapestries were needed to complete the decoration of the new apartments in keeping with their style and taste. It was clear therefore that Claudio Beaumont, who had decorated some of the rooms with frescoes, should be asked to submit designs. Recalled from Florence in 1731, Demignot immediately opened a low-warp workshop. Its official inauguration did not take place until 1737, when a high-warp workshop was added. This was directed by Antonio Dini.
Claudio Beaumont designed the History of Alexander, the History of Caesar, the History of Hannibal, and the History of Cyrus [Palazzo Reale, Turn and Quirinale, Rome] with heroic themes, which were most unusual in 18th century tapestries. Unusual too was the form in which they were represented, adhering to the principle that a series of tapestries should be monumental, covering a whole wall, adapted organically to the architecture. The result was a compromise between ancient and modern. The large tapestries, of elaborate and stiff design, revealed mostly the influence of the traditional cartoons [above all, the various series of Le Brun], while the smaller panels , later episodes in a more liberal composition, are much richer in detail and more modern in style.
The History of Cyrus [c1750-1756] is hinted at rather than narrated, and deals only with the high points of the story. It is one of Beaumont’s most felicitous works.
More suitable than the ‘heroic’ series in the taste of the period are the ‘lesser’ series at Turin, the marine and the architectural subjects, from designs by Francesco Antoniani. In the architecture series the notion of the ‘woven wall’ reaches its apogee of absurdity in a fanciful vision of ruins. Antoniani was responsible also for the designs for wooded landscapes with figures. Other designers were Angela Palanca and Vittorio Amedeo Vignaroli [after 1755], who, while still maintaining the conventions of the Arcadian idyll, introduced mellow rustic effects.
The disturbing events at the end of the century caused the closing of the workshops. Between 1823, when they re-opened, and 1832 they had little success.
French Influence in Naples
A workshop was opened at Naples in 1737 by Charles III. It gave work to the weavers who had lost their jobs with the closing of the Medici tapestry works.
Their first series were the Elements for the royal palace at Caserta [1746] and the other works imitating painting. In 1757 Pietro Duranti became director, and in the following year the vast Don Quixote series was begun. It was copied exactly from the series of the same name woven at the Gobelins, with only slight variations in the central subjects [some designed by Bonito].
That the dominant influence at Naples was French is confirmed in the History of Henry IV. Although the choice of the episodes is different, it is very similar to the series ont he same subject woven at the Gobelins [1785-1786]. The series marks the decline of the ornate Rococo style and the birth of a new historical and didactic manner. Its aesthetic content was meagre in both Paris and Naples, where work ceased in 1798.
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