Boreas and Orithyia from a set of scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses
Maidens gathering flowers are plunged into disarray as, drapery billowing, winged Boreas, god of the North Wind, wraps Orithyia, a mortal princess of Athens, in his burly arms. Frustrated by her father’s refusal to approve his marriage request, Boreas carries her off regardless, in a sharp diagonal thrust out of the picture plane, towards his home in Thrace.
This tapestry was made as part of a popular series, eventually numbering eight or nine episodes, illustrating scenes from the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a lengthy, magical poem loosely narrating a Classical history of the world.
This tapestry was made as part of a popular series, eventually numbering eight or nine episodes, illustrating scenes from the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a lengthy, magical poem loosely narrating a Classical history of the world.
Artwork Details
- Title: Boreas and Orithyia from a set of scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses
- Designer: René Antoine Houasse (French, Paris 1645–1710 Paris)
- Manufactory: Beauvais
- Date: designed ca. 1690, woven before 1730
- Culture: French, Beauvais
- Medium: Wool, silk, metal thread (19-22 warps per inch, 7-9 per cm.)
- Dimensions: 11 ft. 8 in. × 14 ft. 11 in. (355.6 × 454.7 cm) (as measured by Textile Conservation in 1984)
- Classification: Textiles-Tapestries
- Credit Line: Gift of Frances L. Kellogg, 1977
- Object Number: 1977.435
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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