(Paris 1694 – 1752) A scene from Don Quixote: “Don Quixote is served by the maids from the tavern”, oil on canvas, 81 x 98 cm, framed, (Wo)

Sketch for a tapestry cartoon for the Royal Gobelin series depicting the story of Don Quixote by Cervantes (1st part, chapter II). Provenance: Hotel Drouot Paris, 14.11 1919, lot 12; English private collection. Literature: Thierry Lefrancois Athena, Charles Coypel (1694 – 1752), Paris 1994, pp. 395–396, no. 367. Charles-Antoine Coypel painted this scene from the story of Don Quixote in 1751. It completed the famous series of 28 cartoons for tapestries produced by the ‘Manufacture Royal des Goblins’. They were commissioned in 1715 by the ‘Batiments du Roi’ (the Royal Household). Coypel produced the majority of the cartoons between 1725 and 1740. The story of Don Quixote was the first and most important commission in Coypel’s career. Don Quixote believes that the two young women at the tavern door are two young ladies waiting at the entrance to a palace. Since he notices that they are both frightened by his appearance, he speaks to them in a gallant manner, so that they will believe he is a knight. When they hear him address them as young ladies, they are both convulsed with laughter. A table is set up before the tavern and to the great amusement of all concerned, Don Quixote cannot take off his helmet. There is nothing for it but for Don Quixote to let himself be fed through his visor by the young women from the tavern. Coypel was ‘premier peintre du roi’ and director of the ‘Academie Royale de peinture et de sculpture’. His series of cartoons made him famous throughout Europe. Right up until Honoré Daumier, Coypel’s Don Quixote was the basis for almost all illustrations of the story. A smaller version of this scene is to be found nowadays in the Musée Jacquemart André in Paris.