Tapestry Depicting Pygmallion and Galatea

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Tapestry Depicting Pygmallion and Galatea
Tapestry Depicting Pygmallion and Galatea ( Belgium c. 1680 )

Medium

Wool and silk threads

Dimensions

530.00cm wide 265.00cm high (208.66 inches wide  104.33 inches high)

Provenance

HRH Prince Wittekind Waldeck and Pyrmont, Castle Arolsen, Waldeck, Germany

Description / Expertise

The scene is taken from Ovid’s The Metamorphoses, Book 10, no.7: Pygmalion sculpts the statue of Galatea with which he falls in love and asks Venus (Aphrodite) to give it life. He then marries Galatea who becomes his queen (of Cyprus).
The tapestry has the rare flower and fruit border: more frequently encountered is the cross ribbon border in imitation of a picture frame.
Similar tapestries may be seen in The Art Institute of Chicago Museum, and Cotehele, Cornwall.