WOVEN UNDER THE DIRECTION OF NICOLAS BESNIER AND JEAN-BAPTISTE OUDRY, AFTER DESIGNS BY FRANCOIS BOUCHER, CIRCA 1736-52

BEAUVAIS MANUFACTORY
Founded under the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, the Beauvais tapestry manufactory experienced early success with its Grotesques series, but frequently struggled financially. In 1734, successful artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) was named director of the manufactory and soon brought on his close friend Nicolas Besnier (1714-1754) as co-director. Besnier was a renowned silversmith and orfèvre du roi (Goldsmith to the King) while the accomplished Oudry was a member of the Royal Academy and a favorite in the court of Louis XV. The two proved to be an excellent business pairing; Besnier quickly took the lead on the commercial side of the business while Oudry acted as an artistic director, embracing changing tastes and bringing in other popular artists, most notably François Boucher.

FRANCOIS BOUCHER AND THE FETES ITALIENNES
François Boucher (1703-1770)--the artist practically synonymous with the ebullient rococo style of Louis XV’s court--produced intimate, bucolic and romantic scenes of courtly life and love. It is likely that Boucher started work on the cartoons for Fêtes Italiennes in 1734, shortly after Oudry and Besnier took over Beauvais, as the first recorded weaving is in 1736. This series of pastoral Italian life likely draws on the artist’s time living there from 1727 to 1731, as well as Jean-Antoine Watteau's (1684–1721) Fêtes Vénitiennes (1718-1719). The series is not meant to illustrate a concise story, but rather country scenes that can be combined in whichever way preferred by the patron.

The designs were almost certainly supplied in two stages and while J. Badin listed no less than fourteen subjects for the series in La Manufacture de Tapisseries de Beauvais, Paris, 1909, later scholarship argued that the series likely only consisted of eight subjects, some of which were split to extend the set (see Edith Standen, “Fêtes Italiennes: Beauvais Tapestries after Boucher in the Metropolitan Museum of Art”, Metropolitan Museum Journal vol. 12, 1977, pp. 107-139). The series enjoyed a great success and was woven no less than 13 times and as late as 1762.