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Charles Le Brun

Winter, from The Seasons

1700/20
Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave
540.1 × 384.9 cm (212.6 × 151.5 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Winter presents Saturn (the god of agriculture and time) and Juventas (the cupbearer to the gods on Mount Olympus) on a large cloud. The musical instruments and the mask at Juventas’s feet allude to ballet performances and masked balls—the favored pastimes of the French court—while Saturn holds a floral wreath that features a ballet scene. In the foreground, a variety of winter vegetables are visible, along with a cage, nets, a gun, and game of various kinds: the results of a successful hunt. The buildings in the background on the right of the tapestry are identifiable as the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The border imitates a gilt wood frame and contains shell garlands above and below cartouches that feature interlocking Ls surmounted by a crown, a cipher of French king Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715). The tapestry is from a series based on the Four Seasons ( Autumn is also in the Art Institute’s collection), after a design by Charles Le Brun, who was appointed director of the Gobelins Manufactory in 1663.

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