Getty Museum

Tapestry: Le Repas de Sancho dans l'Ile de Barataria, from L'Histoire de don Quichotte Series

Date

1770–1772

Medium

Wool and silk; modern cotton lining

Culture

French

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

For this scene from the Gobelins tapestry series L’Histoire de Don Quichotte (The Story of Don Quixote), based on the enormously popular romance novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Sancho, Don Quixote’s companion, is seated at table in a palatial setting. A gilt chandelier fitted with burning candles hangs above, and a buffet set with ceremonial silver stands against the back wall. To the right, the bearded and bespectacled figure of the doctor points to the table with a long stick. The pages bring various dishes only to whisk them away as the doctor declares them detrimental to Sancho’s health. Tapestry weavers rendered the scene as if it were a painting in a gilt-wood frame, hung against a damask-covered wall, which is festooned with thick garlands of fruit and flowers. The picture frame rests on a base piled with armor, an axe, flags, and two cornucopias overflowing with fruit. The tapestry’s title is woven below in yellow thread. The same decorative field, known as the *alentours*, encloses each of the narrative scenes in the Getty Museum’s set of four Don Quixote tapestries.**

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