BAILLY, Jacques I
(b. ca. 1634, Graçay, d. 1679, Paris)

Autumn (from the Seasons)

1664-68
Illumination
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

Jacques Bailly was a French miniature painter active in Paris. He illuminated a superb manuscript containing an anthology of devices for Louis XIV's tapestries made in the Gobelins factory. The devices were designed for the medallions at the four corners of the large tapestries, commissioned from the Gobelins factory. All were related to the monarch's virtues and were based ion mottos invented by the Académie des Inscriptions. Bailly's manuscript depicted the proposed ideograms in original, lively settings that functioned as a jovial and sometime openly humorous accompaniment. The book was so appreciated that the king had Sébastien Le Clerc produce a version illustrated with engravings.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in F major RV 293 op. 8 No. 3 (Autumn)