1683.
Tapestry Wall-hanging; subject, Venus appearing to Æneas in a wood.
The second book of the Æneid has furnished the designer with the
materials for this piece. Just as Æneas had uplifted his hand to slay
Helen, Venus appears, stays his arms, and reasons with him. So says
Virgil; but here we merely see Mercury coming down from the clouds,
and Venus revealing herself to her son. The admirers of the beautiful
in form and face will not find much to please them in the lady's person.
This piece closes the history of Æneas as given in these tapestries, which
came from the palace, or, as it used to be called, the King's House at
Newmarket. All through, Dido is made to appear in the same kind of
costume; but the dresses in general are purely imagined by the artist,
without the slightest authority from the monuments of either Greek or
Roman antiquity: and the architectural parts are quite in the debased
classic style of the 17th century, as followed in Flanders. All these
tapestries are framed in a red border, wrought at the sides with scrolls
and shields, and below, with winged boys holding labels once showing
inscriptions (now faded) all shot with gold, but tarnished black. Many
of the female figures are slip-shod, like St. Mary Magdalen in Rubens's
"Taking down from the Cross," at Antwerp.
6733.
Tapestry Hanging; subject, the story of Arria and Paetus, copied from a painting by Francois André Vincent, and dated 1785. The border was added afterwards. French, done at the Gobelins. 12 feet by 10 feet 6 inches. Presented by His Imperial Highness Prince Napoleon.
The subject is a startling one; being condemned to die, by the
Emperor Claudius, and put an end to his life with his own hand, Paetus
hesitated. Seeing this, his wife Arria snatched up the weapon and
plunged it to the hilt in her own bosom, and then handing the dagger
to her husband, said, "It does not pain me, Paetus."
