Seasons and Elements (Fire) (set of four) ca. 1683 Possibly after a design by Charles Le Brun French Representing spring and summer, fire and air, these hangings (MMA ) were part of a larger set that must also have included the two missing seasons and elements. This series included portraits of Louis XIV, his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, marquise de Montespan (1641 – 1707 ), and six of their children, all shown as deities. The hangings were probably worked at the convent of the Filles de Saint-Joseph in Paris, which was under the patronage of Madame de Montespan, and

Seasons and Elements (Fire) (set of four) ca. 1683 Possibly after a design by Charles Le Brun French Representing spring and summer, fire and air, these hangings (MMA ) were part of a larger set that must also have included the two missing seasons and elements. This series included portraits of Louis XIV, his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, marquise de Montespan (1641 – 1707 ), and six of their children, all shown as deities. The hangings were probably worked at the convent of the Filles de Saint-Joseph in Paris, which was under the patronage of Madame de Montespan, and where she retired in 1691. At this religious community, orphan girls were educated in the art of needlepoint, and a number of royal embroidery projects for use at Versailles were executed there, with the additional assistance of professional embroiderers. The Museum’s four panels are believed to have been commissioned by Madame de Montespan about the time the king transferred his affections from her to Françoise d’Aubigny, marquise de Maintenon (1635 – 1719 ), whom he was to marry in central medallion in the panel that symbolizes air (MMA ) features the king himself in the guise of Jupiter, holding a thunderbolt and a shield emblazoned with the head of the Gorgon Medusa and seated on a large eagle against a backdrop of billowing clouds. Various birds, insects, and wind instruments are rendered around this medallion, while a sunburst is shown above and Juno with peacock below. The closeness of the depiction of Louis XIV to an image of the king painted on the ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles by Charles Le Brun in 1683 – 84 makes it likely that the designs for the main figures in the set of hangings were supplied by his workshop; however, they may be the work of the painter François Bonnemer (1638 – 1689 ), who is known to have made cartoons after compositions by Le Brun. In 1685 Bonnemer provided designs for the embroidered seat covers

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