Tapestry; after the model of ISAAC MOILLON (1614-1673).

Tapestry; after the model of ISAAC MOILLON (1614-1673).
"Return of Helen to Sparta". Series History of Paris and Helen". H, 1650-1670.
Silk and wool. Woven in Aubusson.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 262 x 410 cm.
Menelaus became king of Sparta after marrying Helen, who would be kidnapped by Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, giving rise to the Trojan War. Under the command of Agamemnon, Menelaus and the other Greek kings set sail for Troy to rescue Helen. After the war, Helen and Menelaus reconciled and tried to return to Greece, but were forced to make a journey that lasted eight years. Finally, Menelaus and Helen were able to return to Sparta. The scene depicts the moment when the ship that will take them to Sparta is loaded. A bull that refuses to ascend the gangplank is sacrificed by Menelaus himself, "who took in his right hand the sword and went to the bow... "(1) detail that we see on the right side of the tapestry. The tapestry, woven in Aubusson in the second half of the 17th century, was designed around 1650 by the Parisian painter Isaac Moillon (1614-1673) "painter to the king" under the regency of Anne of Austria and Louis XIV. Dedicated to history painting and monumental decoration, he decorated castles for the nobility of Auvergne and was also noted for his religious painting. From 1650 onwards, his presence in Aubusson is proven, where he created numerous original models for the tapestries woven in the workshops of this village, which in 1665 received the name of Manufacture Royale. Moillon is credited with a dozen series with a total of seventy-five tapestries on Dido and Aeneas, Achilles, Ulysses, The Illustrious Women, History of Paris and Helen... Series that, due to their great success, were woven repeatedly until they numbered more than one hundred and thirty sets, of which some four hundred pieces are still preserved today. This History of Paris and Helen, designed by Moillon, was a great success in the Aubusson workshops, where it was woven on numerous occasions throughout the second half of the 17th century and even in the first half of the 18th century, with up to twenty-two different borders being used in the tapestries found today. Calculating that each border model was used in a series that could have an average of seven or eight tapestries, the resulting figure is very considerable. In our piece, the border used is very simple and elegant; it is formed by vegetal motifs with different types of flowers and acanthus leaves that run throughout the frame of the cloth- The tapestry could have been part of a set of eight, which would include episodes such as The trial of Paris, The marriage of Paris and Helen, The Greeks go to claim Helen, Paris is protected by Venus, The death of Paris, Menelaus meets Helen after the capture of Troy and The return of Helen to Sparta. A tapestry woven by the same Moillon model was auctioned in 2017 in Paris. It was part of the furnishings of a castle in western France. If we compare it with our tapestry, we see that on the left side it is incomplete, missing the figure of Menelaus? The border, similar to that of our piece, is formed by flower and leaf garlands.