Tapestry Depicting Pygmallion and Galatea

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.