A mid-18th century Brussels tapestry in Rococo style

A mid-18th century Brussels tapestry in Rococo style, worked with a gentleman and three ladies wearing silk dresses, one with brocaded decoration and holding a fan, together with Pierrot with his guitar after Jean-Antoine Watteau's La Partie carrée, with a chateau in the distance, with gardens, walkways and trees, the whole framed by marble columns and arches adorned with swags of flowers, 283.5 x 397cm.

This very fine tapestry in the fête galante style depicts figures in a stage like setting in the manner of Jean-Antoine Watteau's celebrated painting La Partie carrée of c. 1713. The figure of Pierrot is an almost exact copy and this figure gives a clue to the subject matter of the painting and this tapestry: the brash world of the Commedia dell'arte but poeticised with beautiful young women dressed in their finery in an aristocratic setting. Echoes of of Jean François de Troy's painting 'Declaration of Love' c.1731 can also be found in this tapestry especially with the treatment of the two lovers on the left hand side.

Provenance: From the collection formed by the late The Hon Mrs Daisy Fellowes, Donnington Grove, Berkshire, ex. The Drawing Room.