[Sidenote:
_Wool and Silk._
H. 25 _in._
W. 21 _in._
]
PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XV: _This portrait, after a painting by Van Loo made for
the Gobelins in_ 1760, _is one of a series of the royal family. It is in
the original frame_.
[Sidenote: Illustrated: _Böttiger, Svenska Statins Samling_, vol. 2,
pl. XLI; _Fénaille, Etat général des Tapisseries de la Manufacture des
Gobelins, Dix-huitième Siècle_, 2me Partie, p. 311; as portrait of Louis
XVI, in _Migeon, Les Arts de Tissu_, p. 335.]
While tapestry is not an appropriate medium for portraiture, a portrait is
the supreme test of the skill of the weaver. In this piece the effect of
the painting is reproduced with remarkable fidelity. The warp is vertical.
[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]
The technical difficulty was the greater because almost the entire
piece was woven in wool, the proper material for tapestry, silk being
relied on only for a few high lights. As a portrait it has directness
and conviction, carrying the essential dignity of royalty. The XVIIIth
century, which first undertook to weave tapestry portraits, produced a
kind of portrait that was especially ill-adapted to this material; for
the likenesses depended primarily on the delicate modeling produced by a
very sensitively differentiated scale of values and scarcely at all on
lines. Even in Gothic tapestries there are many heads that are striking
portraits, but these are entirely graphic in character and so fitted for
tapestry. In rendering this portrait the weavers had literally to paint
with the shuttle.
Carle Van Loo (1705-1756) studied in Rome under Luti and Le Gros. In
his youth he painted scenery for the opera with Boucher. In 1737 he
was admitted to the Academy, and in 1762 made first painter to the
king.
[Sidenote: 65]