Lutson

The Dragon 1745 - 1760

The Dragon is the only “real” Rococo design in our collection. It was made in the right period of time, undoubtedly by a talented ornamentalist. Just looking at the quality of the sculpture tells the story.

Rococo is all about Grotto’s and Rocaille. Nature is slightly twisted, its sensual, unusual and fascinating, it creates an environment that helps escaping the threats of the real world. Escape reality and live in your own beautiful world was the message. It was the privileged and yet fearing situation of those who lived at the court in Versailles under the reign of Louis XV.

Dragons lived in grottos. That’s why the Dragon fits in the whole picture with natural ease. It’s rooted in the romantic European past and it’s venerated in the exotic and in those days unreachable Far East.

The ornamentalists thought it had to be a special Dragon not one breathing fire and sulfur, not one that kills and leaves behind a scene of desolation and destruction. It had to be the most kind of Dragons a Dragon that gives life and beauty, a reassuring Dragon. The Good Dragon had to be a female Dragon that breathes water from which the Flowers sprout and Life spreads in all its generous beauty.

In 2002 the "Deutsche Tapetenmuseum" Kassel purchased the Dragon tapestries that were fitted in a room form "Kasteel De List" in Shoten near Antwerp. http://www.museum-kassel.de/index_navi.php?parent=1590 Das Tapetenmuseum has a fabulous collection worth a visit.