Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Allegorical Figure of a Woman Representing "Painting"
(18th and 19th Centuries )
This tapestry, which depicts a woman at an easel personifying Painting, belonged to Madame de Pompadour. A subtle comment on exchange between media, the work represents one medium (painting) in a different medium (tapestry). When the tapestry was exhibited in 1765, critics marveled at how closely it imitated the painting it reproduced. The philosopher Denis Diderot wrote: “My word, if anyone standing four feet away is able to distinguish between the painting and the tapestry, I would give him both of them.”
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Commissioned (?) by Madame de Pompadour; inherited by the Marquis de Marigny, 1764; sale of the Marquis de Marigny, Paris, March 18-April 6 1782, no. 126; purchased by Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun, 1782; exhibited at the Exposition d'art français du XVIII siecle, 1910, no. 60; sale of Joseph Bardac, Paris, December 9 1927, no. 135; Guerault, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; purchased by Henry Walters, Paris, 1928; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Exhibitions
| 2016 | Madame de Pompadour, Patron and Printmaker. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 4/15/2015 | Treatment | Cleaned, repaired |
| 4/15/2015 | Treatment | Tapestry cleaned in preparation for exhibition; frame repaired. |
| 6/30/2015 | Examination | Examined in preparation for exhibition. |
| 6/30/2015 | Examination | Examined |
Geographies
Gobelins (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 33 7/16 × W: 26 15/16 in. (85 × 68.5 cm); Framed H: 45 1/4 × W: 38 3/4 × D: 5 1/8 in. (115 × 98.5 × 13 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1928
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
82.5