Artwork story
About Seasons and Elements (Air) (set of four)
The artist and artwork
Seasons and Elements (Air) was embroidered in Paris around 1683 as a monumental wall hanging, not painted as the image may first suggest. The Met attributes its central design to Charles Le Brun, Louis XIV's First Painter, and the border probably to Jean Lemoyne le Lorrain. It was likely made at the Convent of Saint Joseph-de-la-Providence. Silk, wool, and metal thread were worked on canvas in tent stitch at 316 stitches per square inch. Those multiple credits recognize that a royal textile depended on coordinated design and skilled needlework rather than one hand.
The world around it
The hanging was created just after Louis XIV moved his court permanently to Versailles in 1682, while Le Brun's Hall of Mirrors ceiling was turning the king's reign into visual history. Royal patronage made decorative art an instrument of political magnificence. Yet this commission was personal: Madame de Montespan, the king's longtime mistress, probably ordered it as his affection shifted toward Madame de Maintenon. The series cast Louis, Montespan, and six of their children as classical gods, transforming a complicated royal family into a timeless mythology of seasons and elements.
A detail to notice
At the center, Louis XIV appears as Jupiter on an eagle, raising a thunderbolt and carrying a shield with Medusa's head. The border develops the idea of air through things that fly or make sound through breath: parrots, birds, butterflies, horns, and trumpets. A sunburst watches from above, while Juno and her peacock occupy the lower register. Floral swags, ribbons, wings, and birds fill every space, yet the king stays legible within a wreathlike opening. The silver and silver-gilt thread has tarnished, so today's gray-gold field conceals part of its effect. Under candlelight, the hanging shimmered as viewers moved, making air seem animated by reflected light.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is hanging made in Canvas; silk, wool, and metal-thread embroidery in tent stitch (316 stitches per sq. inch, 49 stitches per sq. cm.) and held in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts department.
Recorded dimensions include L. 168 x W. 108 in. (426.7 x 274.3 cm).
Subject terms include Birds, Louis XIV, Jupiter, Parrots, Sun, and Roses. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is Rogers Fund, 1946.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-23.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
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