After a design by Claude III Audran (1658–1734), 1708–09
Woven at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins
France, Paris
The Month of June/The Sign of Cancer, from The Grotesque Months
INV-7566
After a design by Claude III Audran (1658–1734), 1708–09
Woven at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins
France, Parisc. 1726
The Month of June/The Sign of Cancer, from The Grotesque Months
After a design by Claude III Audran (1658–1734), 1708–09 Woven at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins France, Paris →weaving - tapestrytextile
Date
c. 1726
Medium
Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave
Dimensions
71.5 × 293.7 cm (28 1/8 × 115 5/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Bessie Bennett Endowment
This narrow panel and its companion belong to a suite known as The Grotesque Months, which depicts the 12 months of the year and their associated zodiac signs. A Roman deity, centrally positioned within a pergola, personifies each month. June, with the sign of Cancer—a crab—in the oval at the top of the tapestry, shows the messenger god Mercury. Above and below Mercury appear his associated attributes, including his emblematic rooster, and a miniature scene showing an episode from the tale of his sly betrayal and murder of the giant Argus. These tapestries are in the light, open style inspired by Renaissance artists’ rediscovery and reinterpretation of the Classical wall paintings found among the buried ruins of ancient buildings, called grotti, or caves. By the later 17th century, this so-called grotesque style appealed to an elite group of French aristocrats led by Louis, the Grand Dauphin (1682–1712), son and heir of Louis XIV (r. 1715–74).
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