Art Institute of Chicago

Pygmalion from Stories from Ovid

After a design probably by Daniel Janssens (1636–1682)

Date

c. 1675

Medium

Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave Warp: Count: 6 warps per cm; wool: S-ply of three Z-spun elements; diameters: 0.7–1.0 mm Weft: Count: varies from 16 to 32 wefts per cm; wool: pairs of S-ply of two Z-spun elements; diameters: 0.6–1.2 mm; silk: pairs of S-ply of two Z-twisted elements; diameters: 0.7–1.0 mm

Culture

Antwerp

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Typical example of late- seventeenth-century tapestries depicting mythological scenes in wooded or parklike settings. From about 1660, these immensely popular light-hearted and slightly erotic mythological sets, usually depicting stories from Ovid's famous Metamorphoses were the lifeblood of the majority of Flemish and French workshops. The limited color range of these fashionable series and the absence of intricate large-sclae figures made them less costyly to execute than history sets. Antwerp and Oudenarde tapissiers in particular focused on this genre.

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