Tapestry: Le Sommeil de Renaud (from the series, Tentures des Fragments de l'Opera)

Designed by: Charles-Antoine Coypel (French, 1694–1752)
Borders designed by: P-J.Perrot (French)
Woven by: Manufacture des Gobelins
Woven by: Michel Audran (French, 1701–1771)

About 1749–53

Object Place: Paris, France

Medium/Technique Tapestry weave (wool warp; wool and silk wefts)

Dimensions 411.48 x 655.32 cm (162 x 258 in.)

Credit Line Charles Potter Kling Fund

Accession Number1989.190

NOT ON VIEW

CollectionsEurope, Fashion and Textiles

ClassificationsTextiles

DescriptionThe tapestry depicts an episode from the 1686 opera "Armide" composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully (with a libretto by Philipe Quinault.) The opera was based on the epic poem "Gerusalemme Liberatta" by the 16th century Italian author Torquato Tasso and tells the adventures of the Christian crusader Rinaldo and the beautiful enchantress, Armida. Here Rinaldo is shown lying in a charmed sleep in Armida's bower in the Fortunate Isles. At the moment Armida is about to stab her sworn enemy, she realizes that she is in love with Rinaldo and is unable to go through with it. The tapestry interprets the story in a charming eighteenth-century style, with a romantic landscape peopled by nymphs, putti, and a river god. The tapestry retains most the vibrancy and subtle shadings of its color, cream, gold, green, blue and rose.

InscriptionsSigned lower right: AUDRAN

Provenance1900, private collection, Paris. 1989, S. Franses, Ltd., London; 1989, sold by Franses to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 21, 1989)