Tapestry 'Winter' woven in wool and silk, probably designed by Lodewijk van Schoor, Brussels, ca. 1690-1720

Tapestry woven in wool and silk from a series depicting the Four Seasons. Winter personified by a richly dressed woman is sitting in front of an elaborate fireplace, shielding her face with a fan from the lit fire. She is turning her head towards a servant who is offering her a tray of sweetmeats, and two children are sitting on the floor near her feet. The foreground is shown as a richly furnished interior with an elaborately swagged curtain above, but the scene opens out behind the figures to the open air, where in the distant landscape, a party is sledging on the frozen river. There are no borders.

Presented in memory of Mrs Letitia Willet Garrison, by her sister, Miss Lillie Bell Randell

From a set of five hangings (T.161 to 165-1931).
The set of five tapestries formerly hung in the drawing room of the donor's home at 25 Grosvenor Square, London. She bought them at an anonymous sale in Paris (Vente X) on 17 December, 1900. She paid 55,000 francs for the set.

In her catalogue of tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, under catalogue number 34 (a version of Autumn from a related series), Edith Standen notes that the V&A's series of Seasons may be the one referred to as "formerly in the Baumgarten collection, [New York], with borders missing" in George Leland Hunter's The Practical Book of Tapestries, (1925), p.156.

Standen also notes a number of variations on the subject, likely to have been designed by van Schoor, in other collections.

Standen (citing Wauters, Tapisseries bruxelloises, pp.355-6, 358) notes that a set of De Vier Tyden van het Jaer, after van Schoor, was bought from the weaver van den Hecke by King William III of England between 1690 and 1700 for his friend, Everard van Weede van Dijkveld.

Flemish

As one of a set of tapestries representing the Seasons, this tapestry shows a scene of warmth, luxury and comfort to contrast with the winter weather outside. An elegant lady warms herself by a roaring fire, surrounded with objects showing her wealth and good taste, while her servant brings her cakes; outside skaters and sledgers cross a frozen river. Flemish tapestries like this, with figurative subjects making no allusion to political, historical or religious themes but chosen simply for their highly decorative qualities, were very popular in the later 17th century.

T.165-1931