Page 19 - cn emma- Belvoir- Studio epa collection september 2025

The still life composition contrasts the solidity of ‘The Three Graces’ sculpture and the part design of the Don Quixote
Tapestry that hangs behind.

The picture is contemporised by colour borders on the left and right sides which form an inner visual space. The base of
the sculpture is not included, thereby seemingly animating the female figures as they seem to be within a setting of colour
and pattern.

The Don Quixote Tapestry series of 28 different subjects was given as a gift by Louis XVI to Compte de Saint– Florentin
Marquis de la Vrilliere in 1770. The 5th Duke acquired part of the eighth tapestry series in Paris in 1814, designed by
Charles Antoine Coypel for the Gobelin Paris workshop during { 1714 –1734}.

The painting explores the contrast of surfaces and the juxtaposition the two narratives of myth and
fanciful tale. Equally, the composition considers the relationship of form and colour space by limiting the tapestry to an
element; thereby abstracting the background .
‘The Three Graces’ after Antonia Canora’s Neo classical sculpture depicts the mythological Three Charities and daughters
of Zeus. Euphrosyne {mirth} - Aglaea {elegance} and Thalia {youth and beauty}.