International studio (60.1916/1917)

Gobelin and Beauvais Tapestries of the Morgan Collection

III. Don Quixote and Sancho Meet the Duchess.
IV. Don Quixote Served by the Ladies. V. San-
cho’s Departure for the Island of Barataria.
The stories of the two of these that are illus-
trated, Nos. I and V, are:
I. Don Quixote is here represented sallying
forth on his first expedition in quest of adven-
tures. He is mounted on his lean steed, Rosin-
ante, and is equipped in a full suit of armour.
Folly, wearing the barber’s basin as a helmet,
points to a distant windmill, which to the dis-
tempered imagination of the knight appears a
monstrous giant armed with a huge club and ter-
rific scimitar; while Cupid, God of Love, directs
his attention to Dulcinea del Toboso, a coarse
country wench, whom his fancy has invested with
the attributes of a high-born and very beautiful
damsel.
V. The duke and duchess, delighted with the
success of the masque of the bearded duennas and
the flying horse, resolve to proceed with the jest,
and practise on the squire as they had done on
the knight, by pretending to bestow on Sancho
the governorship of the long-expected island. All
things being arranged for the trick by the duke’s
steward, the squire half crazy with joy prepares
to set out for his government, and takes leave
of his benefactors and his former master.
The Morgan Comedies of Moliere
The three Comedies of Moliere were acquired
by Mr. Morgan from the famous Rodolphe Kann
collection, and are illustrated and described in
the de luxe catalogue of that collection. They
are also referred to as belonging to the Kann
collection in the footnote on page 24 of M. Jules
Badin’s “La Manufacture de Tapisserie de Beau-
vais.” They were the third set of tapestries de-
signed for the Beauvais works by Oudry, who
had succeeded Duplessis as chief cartoonist in
1726, and although not reproduced over and over
again as were Oudry’s “Fables de Lafontaine” a
little later, they were much admired at the time
and were prominent among the pieces that created
Oudry’s great reputation as a tapestry designer,
and caused Voltaire, in 1736, to speak of Beauvais
as “The Kingdom of Oudry” (le royaume d’Ou-
dry) .
All of the three tapestries are signed in the
panel J. B. Oudry 1732; and in the bottom selvage
with the Beauvais mark (a round shield bearing
three tiny fleur-de-lis, the coat-of-arms of the

French monarchy), followed on two of the tapes-
tries by N. Besnier a Beauvais. The shield only
appears in the selvage of Le Malade Imaginaire,
the rest of the signature probably having worn
away. Besnier was the new proprietor of the
works, whose efficient management contributed
greatly to the phenomenal success of the works
in the second quarter of the eighteenth century.
Le Depit Amoureux
Le Depit Amoureux is a comedy by Moliere,
his second, in five acts, first produced at Beziers
in 1656. The scene selected by Oudry for repro-
duction in tapestry is the third of the fourth act,
where Lucile and Eraste have an amusing con-
test of wits that terminates in mutual defeat and
victory. The stage is occupied by four persons,
Eraste and his valet, Gros-Rene, who throughout
the play acts as a kind of echo or understudy to
his master, portraying vulgarly the kind of char-
acter that Eraste represents politely, while Mari-
nette in a similar manner reflects her mistress,
Lucile. Eraste loves Lucile, and Lucile loves
Eraste, but they have quarrelled and seize the
opportunity to tear up each other’s love-letters
in a contest of words which apparently declaims
the end of their romance, but which actually ter-
minates in complete reconciliation:
Lucile fearing up one of Eraste’s letters)
This is what assured me of your love forever.
But both were false, the letter and the hand that
wrote it.
Gros-Rene (urging his master not to show less
spirit than Lucile)
Go on!
Eraste (displaying another of Lucile’s letters)
This is yours? Enough,—the same fate (tear-
ing it up).
L’Escole des Maris
L’Escole des Maris is a comedy by Moliere in
three acts, first produced at Paris in 1661. It is
the first play in the title of which the word
“school” was used to indicate the intention of
the author to instruct and convey a special les-
son, as well as amuse. After the first great success
at Paris, on June 12, it was produced a second
time, on July 12, at Foucquet’s famous chateau,
Vaux-le-Vicomte, before the whole court, Mon-
sieur the King’s brother, and the Queen of
England. The play ridicules and shows the in-
effectiveness of the domestic tyranny that some

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