A set of three allegorical panels French School, 18th century

oil on canvas laid down on panel, now within later giltwood frames forming a three-panel screen.

The panels with craquelure and scattered losses now with inpainting. The frame with small losses to gesso and rubbing to gilding. In good overall condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

These panels are related to a group of cartoons painted for the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins by some of the most well-known eighteenth-century French artists. They are part of a twelve-piece-set that originally depicted the twelve months and the twelve zodiac signs. Draftsmen and painters, including Claude Audran III, Etienne Claude Le Blond, Antoine Watteau and Jean Audran, were among the artists who prepared such designs for the royal tapestry manufactory where their works were executed in finely-woven silk and wool. These tapestry panels were then installed in the most lavish interiors, such as was the case in Claude Audran III's Les Douze Mois Grotesques, which was used to decorate the apartments of the Grand Dauphin, later King Louis XV, at Meudon in 1709. The overall decorative scheme presented in the panels offered here is consistent with the aesthetic established at the court of Louis XV as the artists used ancient and mythological references blended with richly ornamented floral designs and capricious architectural elements. The decoraiton of the present screen elaborately personifies the months as deities with each panel adorned with their appropriate attributes and zodiac signs. The inclusion of singerie, in the form of a masked monkey spinning yarn, relates to similar works by the Audrans and Le Blond. Further, the artist's use of iconological attributes depicting each month and zodiac sign is in the same fashion as his contemporaries: August – Virgo is depicted as Ceres along with dragons and farming instruments; October – Scorpio as Minerva is shown holding a spear and shield and wearing a helmet with a perched owl above the aforementioned singerie; and November – Sagittarius is portrayed as the huntress Diana crowned by a crescent moon together with hunting weapons and dogs. A set of tapestries woven after a very similar design by Claude Audran III is now in the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, see M. Tabibnia, Divinità, Scimmie e Segni Zodiacali, Milan, 2007, p. 46, fig. 23-24. A set of related painted panels with highly comparable designs attributed to Audran III sold Sotheby's New York, 18 November 2010, lot 235.