The 93 carpets woven at the Savonnerie factory for the Grande Galerie at the Louvre represent the flourishing of the woven arts in 17th century France and the unabashed, bold and powerful reign of Louis XIV. This fragment is from the center of the 44th carpet which had the theme of Strength. Jules Guiffrey describes the entire carpet in his Inventaire Général du Mobilier de la Couronne:
“185: Le quarante-quatriesme: un tapis fonds brun, représentant la Force, sur lequel il y a un grand compartiment fonds blanc remply de deux grands trophéesd’armes par les bouts, ayant dans le mileu un autre compartiment fonds bleu sur lequel sont les chiffres du Roy environnez de palmes et de quartre couronnes, et aux deux bouts dudit tapis deux bas-reliefs couleur de bronze, dont l’un représente Mars et l’autre Hercule, long de 7 aunes ½, sur 4 aunes 1/8 de large.”
When Louis XIV ascended the throne in 1661, it was decided with his chief minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, that a refurbishment of the Louvre was necessary to make a statement to the world manifesting the power of the King and the State. One aspect of this huge redecoration plan was furnishing the Galerie d'Apollon and the Galerie du Bord de l'eau, otherwise known as the Grande Galerie with carpets of a caliber not yet executed in France. Although Colbert had his doubts about producing the carpets in France, Simon Lourdet proposed that he could fulfill this order by building new looms on which a carpet could be woven lengthwise, whereby the looms were as wide as the length of the carpet, allowing more weavers to sit side by side working simultaneously, speeding the process, and not to mention promoting domestic industries (Sherrill, Sarah B., Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p. 69). Dupont agreed that he could do the same, and the two worked together for the first time to accomplish this arduous task. The first carpets executed for the renovation were thirteen carpets for the Galerie d'Apollon and considered a trial run for the ninety three carpets needed to cover the Grand Galerie which at 1,460 feet x 32 feet was an intimidating project. After the last carpet for the Galerie d'Apollon was delivered in 1667, work began in both the Lourdet and the Dupont workshops.
Charles Lebrun, the first painter to the King, became responsible for the designs of these carpets in 1663 while working closely with Louis Le Vau, the architect in charge, to make sure that all the design elements in this refurbishment were complimentary and displayed the overarching theme of the apotheosis of Louis XIV. The ninety three carpets share in common a black to dark brown background with lush and colorful scrolling foliage, acanthus leaves and rinceaux centering a panel which varies from piece to piece. At each end of the carpet are tableaux either representing an allegory or a landscape and sometimes these are in grisaille. Each carpet is framed by a unifying blue and gold egg and dart variant border where the darts are replaced by spiraled foliage. The main border is flanked by guilloche and leaf tip minor borders and overlaid with a royal fleur de lys in each corner. However, the overriding theme was to glorify the King and exalt his power by recurring symbols of the Sun, his patron God, Apollo, fleur de lys, orbs, as well as interlaced ‘L's’ and crowns, as seen in this example.
Of the 93 carpets commissioned and planned for the Grande Galerie, all but one were executed. In addition to these, a number of others were made on the same looms using the Grande Galerie cartoons and were given as Diplomatic gifts to foreign Sovereigns. In 1670 the first carpet was delivered to the Louvre and the last in 1685, however, they were never installed in situ as Louis XIV lost interest in the restoration of the Louvre and moved his court to Versailles in 1678. During Year 5 (an V) of the Republic when 36 of the carpets were sent to various suppliers of the government, the 44th carpet was sent to Citizen Normandie, an official in charge of liquidating the public debt, for use in his office on the Place Vendôme (see Verlet, Pierre, The James Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Savonnerie, London, 1982, p. 250). After that, the carpet does not resurface until this fragment is offered at auction in 1978. It is unclear when it was cut into pieces and it appears that no other fragments from this carpet survive.
Regardless of its fragmentary state, it is a noble testament to the magnificence and grandeur of this remarkable group of early French carpets and the ruler who ordered them.