AUBUSSON FABRICS, LAST HALF OF THE 18th CENTURY The Fortune Teller Woven in wool and silk; in the foreground, a shepherdess, accompanied by a child and her flock, is addressed by a fortune teller; the border in the imitation of a frame decorated with garlands of flowers; wear, old restorations, reduced in height and probably in width Dimensions: 228 x 411 cm (89 ¾ x 161 ¾ in.) Bibliography: P.F. Bertrand, Aubusson tapestries of the Enlightenment. Splendours of the Royal Manufactory, Supplier of the Enlightenment, Snoeck Gent, 2013, p.183-191. An Aubusson tapestry, depicting the fortune's teller, last third of the 18th century The column and broken capitals at the foot of the palace bear witness to Julliard's Roman sojourn and to the taste for the aesthetics of ruins that became widespread in the second half of the 18th century. In addition to the influence of antiquity, Julliard was also influenced by the Nordic painters he had discovered in the studio of his master François Boucher. The young shepherd reclining in the foreground is strikingly similar to some of Abraham Bloemaert's figures. There are several known weavings, including one in the Hermitage Museum, one in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Cologne), one on display at Charlieu town hall, and a fragment in the Musée Magnin (Dijon).