Collection Online as of April 1, 2023

Set of Ovid's Metamorphoses

1704–31

Part of a set. See all set records

manufacturer

Gobelins Manufactory

(France, Paris, est. 1662)

France, 18th century

Tapestry weave

Average: 327.7 x 322.6 cm (129 x 127 in.)

Gift of Mrs. Matthias Plum 1956.325

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

During the French Revolution, Gobelins tapestries were sometimes disassembled to harvest the gold threads.

Description

Each tapestry illustrates a scene from Metamorphoses, written by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. The poem is comprised of fifteen books and contains more than 250 myths. These tapestries were produced in Paris by the royal Gobelins Manufactory during the 1700s. Gobelins was founded in 1662 for the purpose of furnishing French royal homes with the highest quality textiles. Gold and silver thread and silk were woven together to create luxurious tapestries like these.

Gobelins Manufactory

For more information: http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000032919

Provenance

?–1956

Mrs. Matthias Plum (Bertha Andrews Rainey Plum) [1909-1976], New York, NY, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1956–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Malloy, Katherine R. “Three Eighteenth-Century Gobelins Tapestries.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 2 (1957): 24–27. Reproduced: P. 24; Mentioned: P. 24-27 www.jstor.org

Standen, Edith A. “Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’: A Gobelins Tapestry Series.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 23 (1988): 149–191. Mentioned: P. 159, 162-163, 167, 171-173, 188; Reproduced: P. 164, 166, 172 www.jstor.org