Le Tombeau de Voltaire

Textile printed in red on white showing vignettes with allegorical scenes: a heralding angel of Fame on a flying pegasus before an unornamented triumphal arch and obelisk; a figure mourns next to the tomb of Voltaire in a field of obelisks; three graces dance in front of a seated Apollo; Jupiter's eagle holds a radiant bust of Voltaire in its beak; the figure of History writes Voltaire's name on the back of Time who carries an hourglass and scythe; an angel with a flaming torch greets a putti; a scholar converses with a hunchback man; a man cowers from a figure with snakes in their hands and hair, as well as from Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades; bats fly around a crop of flaming rock; Charon rows a boat decorated with the face of Medusa to the Elysian Fields, where the aged figure of Voltaire bows to be crowned with a laurel wreath by Henry IV while putti collect his written works; an elaborate fountain casts arcs of water in front of a building; a figure stand on the edge of a cliff in front of a classical building.

c. 1785

Medium: cotton Technique: printed by engraved copper plate on plain weave; mordant for red

1944-22-2

Image and text © Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2020