Tapestry, the Fables of La Fontaine

These six tapestries, framed by carved oak, are bordered by palm trees and garlands of flowers. They were woven in the workshop of de Menou. The images, on a blue ground, depict the following fables: “The Wolf, the Mother and her Child”; “The Lion in Love”; “Nothing in Excess”; “The Fish and the Shepherd Who Played the Flute”; “The Fox and the Stork”; “The Wolf and the Stork.” They came from the large drawing room of the College of Sorèze (in the Tarn region of France), a Jesuit College which was refurbished in 1776 when it became a military school. Moïse de Camondo bought them from the antiques dealer Jacques Seligmann.