The infant Moses tramples on Pharoah's crown
Tapestry
1683-1687 (made)
1683-1687 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This hanging is part of the tapestry series The Story of Moses, after paintings by Poussin and Le Brun, which was woven in the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins, the first set started in 1683. Its weaving was part of an artistic programme intended to spread the theory of painting promoted by the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. The Moses series was the first at the Gobelins to be derived from oil paintings which were not specially designed for tapestry or radically adapted for this purpose.
Poussin's painting of The Infant Moses Trampling on Pharoah's Crown, from which this tapestry is derived, was purchased by Louis XIV for the Cabinet du Roi (now in the Louvre). Its translation into a large-scale tapestry woven hanging enabled the appreciation of Poussin's work in a more ostentatious way suitable for court spectacle, incorporating expensive materials including gold thread in the weaving (the painting measured 92 x 128 cm, the tapestry 363 x 480 cm). The set was woven six times, and the V&A's piece is thought to have come from the third set (completed in 1687), given by Louis XV to his brother in 1716.
Poussin's painting of The Infant Moses Trampling on Pharoah's Crown, from which this tapestry is derived, was purchased by Louis XIV for the Cabinet du Roi (now in the Louvre). Its translation into a large-scale tapestry woven hanging enabled the appreciation of Poussin's work in a more ostentatious way suitable for court spectacle, incorporating expensive materials including gold thread in the weaving (the painting measured 92 x 128 cm, the tapestry 363 x 480 cm). The set was woven six times, and the V&A's piece is thought to have come from the third set (completed in 1687), given by Louis XV to his brother in 1716.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The infant Moses tramples on Pharoah's crown (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | Tapestry woven in wool, silk and metal thread |
| Brief description | Tapestry 'The infant Moses tramples on Pharoah's crown' woven in wool, silk and metal thread, after Nicolas Poussin, woven at the Gobelins workshops, Paris, 1683-1687 |
| Physical description | Tapestry woven in wool, silk and metal thread. The tapestry depicts the infant Moses trampling on the crown of the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh reclines on a couch with his daughter sitting in a chair at its end. At Pharaoh's feet lies his crown, which the young Moses is treading on. A female attendant is clutching the child, while another restrains a man behind the couch who is brandishing a dagger. A landscape can be seen through a wide window to the right, and the rest of the background is filled by a huge red and yellow highly patterned curtain. Marble pillars mark the left and right edges of the scene. Four men to the left and three women to the right stand in attitudes of alarm, flanking the central group. The borders of the tapestry are missing. A modern galloon had been attached, but was removed before cleaning in September 2012. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Purchased from Saffron Walden Museum Society. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Literary reference | Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews 2:232-36 |
| Summary | This hanging is part of the tapestry series The Story of Moses, after paintings by Poussin and Le Brun, which was woven in the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins, the first set started in 1683. Its weaving was part of an artistic programme intended to spread the theory of painting promoted by the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. The Moses series was the first at the Gobelins to be derived from oil paintings which were not specially designed for tapestry or radically adapted for this purpose. Poussin's painting of The Infant Moses Trampling on Pharoah's Crown, from which this tapestry is derived, was purchased by Louis XIV for the Cabinet du Roi (now in the Louvre). Its translation into a large-scale tapestry woven hanging enabled the appreciation of Poussin's work in a more ostentatious way suitable for court spectacle, incorporating expensive materials including gold thread in the weaving (the painting measured 92 x 128 cm, the tapestry 363 x 480 cm). The set was woven six times, and the V&A's piece is thought to have come from the third set (completed in 1687), given by Louis XV to his brother in 1716. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.150-1965 |
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| Record created | February 1, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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