Art Institute of Chicago

Winter, from The Seasons

After a design by Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690)

Date

1700/20

Medium

Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave

Culture

Paris

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Winter presents Saturn (the god of agriculture and time) and Juventas (the cupbearer to the gods on Mount Olympus) on a large cloud. The musical instruments and the mask at Juventas’s feet allude to ballet performances and masked balls—the favored pastimes of the French court—while Saturn holds a floral wreath that features a ballet scene. In the foreground, a variety of winter vegetables are visible, along with a cage, nets, a gun, and game of various kinds: the results of a successful hunt. The buildings in the background on the right of the tapestry are identifiable as the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The border imitates a gilt wood frame and contains shell garlands above and below cartouches that feature interlocking Ls surmounted by a crown, a cipher of French king Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715). The tapestry is from a series based on the Four Seasons ( Autumn is also in the Art Institute’s collection), after a design by Charles Le Brun, who was appointed director of the Gobelins Manufactory in 1663.

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