Wall Hanging

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Wall Hanging
France; 17th c.

In cold European castles and mansions wall hangings of this kind for centuries united the functional with the religious and the imaginative. They gave to the large halls that they decorated an illusion of depth and warmth. They were influenced by painting in selection of subjects, motifs and manners. This hanging from the Mimara Collection showing an allegorical subject reflects all the stylistic invention of the art of its time. A "theatrical" framework is supplied by the drawn curtains which reveal symmetrically placed actors in a hilly landscape with a stream in which exotic trees grow. Their vigorous movement is underlined by the rich drapery and the folds of clothes and drapery.