Cartoon for the Back of a Tapestry Settee

Not on view

This to-scale model for the back of a sofa, or settee, would have served weavers at French textile manufactories, most likely at Beauvais or Aubusson. Ancient grotesque wall decoration inspired the advanced style of Neoclassical ornament and can be associated with designers such as Jean Démosthène Dugourc (1749–1825). The trompe l’oeil bunting along the edge mimicked the complex upholstery of other settees during his period that made the most of the large rectangular planes of Louis XVI furniture forms as a pictorial surface. The motifs—including freshly harvested grapes in the medallion and the bunting’s pattern of panther skin, an attribute of Bacchus—indicate that it was intended to allegorize Autumn.

Artwork Details

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Notes

Title: Cartoon for the Back of a Tapestry Settee
Artist: French Painter (fourth quarter 18th century)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 26 3/4 x 68 1/2 in. (67.9 x 174 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Francis Henry Lenygon, 1975
Object Number: 1975.39
Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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