A LILLE PASTORAL TAPESTRY BY THE WIDOW OF GUILLAUME WERNIERS,...

Depicting a party dining in the woods, with a chateau and its gardens in the background, with woven signature 'LA VEUVE DE G. WERNIERS L.F'
Approximately 9 ft. 3 in. (282 cm.) high, 7 ft. 4 in. (224 cm.) wide

Lot Essay
The tapestry workshops of Lille produced numerous versions of Teniers' subjects. The first recorded series was woven under Jan de Melter (d. 1698), who established his atelier in 1688, for a local client, Michel de Pelletier. With the arrival of Guillaume Werniers (d. 1738), who in 1700 married Melter's daughter, Lille's Teniers tapestry production reached its climax. His tapestries rival in quality those of Brussels and the popularity of his works enabled him to enlarge his workshop to 21, looms despite the overall difficult economic situation. The most prolific period of the workshop was in the first decades of his ownership and the majority of his work was supplied to la première noblesse de France. Although he executed some special commissions such as portrait tapestries, a series depicting the life of Christ for the Church of St. Saveur in Lille in 1735 and some rare mythological scenes, the vast majority of his works were based on the Teniers pastoral subjects. The main group of Teniers tapestries comprised a total of eight panels, although he wove various sets to different designs, see D. Heinz, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 239 and 242. The subjects were also woven under the supervision of his second wife, Katherine Ghuys, who carried on the workshop for several more years, copying the subjects woven during her husband's directorship. Teniers tapestries from the Werniers atelier woven with the same border as this lot include one by Guillaume Werniers sold Christie's, London, 29 October 2025, lot 139 and one executed under the direction of his widow, sold Christie's, London, 25 March 1999, lot 206.