Sancho Panza's memorable judgement c.1786
Woven silk and wool tapestry | 351.0 x 315.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 3194
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One panel from a series of Gobelins tapestries depicting the story of Don Quixote, based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The scene illustrated is Sancho Panza's memorable judgement, (Memorable jugement de Sancho) within a highly decorative pink ground in imitation of crimson damask (damas cramoisi) decorated with fruit, flowers and trophies.
The incident is related in part 2, chapter 45, of Don Quixote. Sancho Panza has been received as governor of the island of Barataria and enthroned on the judgment seat. Two elderly men are in disagreement over a debt which the lender claims he has never received; Sancho observes the debtor's habit of handing over his cane while he speaks, and surmises that the sum must be inside the cane.
Woven in the workshop of Jacques Neilson after a design by Charles-Antoine Coypel, one of four panels in the Royal Collection from a series of twenty-eight.
This series of tapestries was first mentioned in the Gobelins records in 1714, and was repeatedly rewoven throughout the eighteenth century, sometimes with modified borders. The borders eclipse the scenes in importance and the designers of the former were paid correspondingly more than the artist, C. Coypel, who provided the cartoons for the scenes.Provenance
The four tapestries in this group were presented on 18 July 1788 by Louis XVI to the artist Richard Cosway, as a gesture of thanks for the four tapestry cartoons by Giulio Romano of the history of Scipio which Cosway had given to the King for display in the Louvre. Cosway gave them to George IV shortly afterwards; they were eventually hung in Carlton House and in c.1834, moved to Buckingham Palace.
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Creator(s)
(tapestry manufacturer)(designer)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Woven silk and wool tapestry
Measurements
351.0 x 315.0 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Memorable jugement de Sancho