Important Screen Circa 1790 “ovid’s Metamorphoses”

Important panoramic wallpaper screen "The Metamorphoses of Ovid" from the Joseph Dufour factory around 1790. 3.40 mx 1.70 m. Written by Ovid at the beginning of our era, the work "The Metamorphoses" includes 246 fables in more than 12,000 verses divided into fifteen songs, where for love or vengeance, the gods, heroes or simple mortals are transformed into beasts, plants, rocks, stars, trees.... Although the Middle Ages had a perfect knowledge of Ovid's text, it was not until the 16th century that artists were inspired by it, mainly from two illustrated editions: one from 1471 in Italy, the other from 1553 in France. The influence of this book on the arts is major and has lasted over the centuries, as evidenced by this panoramic wallpaper "The Metamorphoses of Ovid" created by Jean Gabriel Charvet and printed by the famous Joseph Dufour factory at the end of the 18th century. Several strips of this panoramic are preserved at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris as well as at the Rixheim wallpaper museum in Alsace.