Tapestry Depicting Venus, Symbolizing Spring c. 1699 - 1728

Editor: This is a tapestry from the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins, made sometime between 1699 and 1728. The title tells us it depicts Venus, symbolizing Spring. I’m struck by the almost dreamlike quality of the figures, as if everything is viewed through a haze. What do you see in this piece? Curator: A delicious unraveling of seasons, isn't it? Woven into its threads, I sense a longing for perpetual bloom, an escape from the bite of winter. Look how Venus floats, almost weightless, among the cherubs. It’s like a visual poem, whispered through silk and wool. Imagine the palace it once adorned, its colours shimmering in candlelight, the air thick with perfume and the murmur of courtiers. Don’t you think that tapestry became more than just decoration? Editor: Absolutely, it's like a portal to another time. All of the ornamentation reminds me of paintings from that period. But what’s so interesting to me, is how textile artists can evoke emotion through such a painstaking process. Curator: And remember, those ‘painstaking’ threads carried stories, gossip, royal decrees, even rebellion! It’s all interwoven, if you just look closely. I think that in their slow creation, we begin to notice what a collaboration of vision and labour produces. Do you find something personal coming out of this collaboration, as opposed to individual expression? Editor: I think that's a great question, I never thought about it in that manner! It has made me rethink the artistic process involved in tapestry-making and other collaborative pieces. Curator: Precisely! Each piece of textile whispers tales not only of myth and court, but of those hands that toiled, the colours that danced, the spring that forever bloomed within those palace walls.