Bibliotheque du Roi - Savonnerie Carpet

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Made between 1668 and 1685 by the Savonnerie manufactory, this carpet was designed by Charles Le Brun, court painter to King Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of all time". This carpet was intended to part of the set of ninety-three carpets, of different but related designs, that was being created for the Grande Galerie of the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The project to cover with carpets the entire floor of the long gallery at the Louvre, measuring more than 400 square meters (or 480 yards) in length, was the most ambitious commission the Savonnerie ever received. The individual designs of the series most likely reflected in some degree the decoration of the ceiling and walls of the gallery.

Set against a black ground with scrolling acanthus leaves in the corners, the main motifs of this splendid carpet, number thirty-eight of the series, are full of references to the monarchy. The sunflower, symbol of the Sun King, is flanked by the French royal arms and by Louis XIV’s crowned monogram of interlaced Ls.

A number of the carpets for the Grande Galerie have compartments at either narrow end showing simulated bas-reliefs in grisaille representing different aspects and virtues of good government. Here the personifications of fame, blowing a trumpet, and fortitude, with a lion and a column, are depicted. Although all the carpets of the original commission but one were woven between 1670 and 1689, Louis XIV appears to have lost interest in the interior decoration of the Louvre, and thus in this monumental project, when he focused his attention on Versailles instead, moving his court there in 1682.

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