I went to an antiques fair a couple of weeks ago on the promise of a few interesting toiles that two of my favourite French dealers had emailed me about. I wasn't disappointed; as well as a couple of designs I have come across previously, there were some lovely new ones I hadn't seen before in the 'cloth' so to speak, or in any of my books.
I think most of them date to somewhere round about 1810-1830. There were some gorgeous pieces that tell the tale of William Tell, a fabulously detailed and dynamic print, full of energy and excitement, a few of panels that I think both came from Nantes, one depicting tales of Swiss 'amour' that is nicely simple and quite naturalistic and another more dramatic print depicting tales about a couple called Lodoiska & Lovzinski. Luckily enough the toiles have come in quite a few separate pieces, so plenty to sell, but more importantly, some to keep for myself!
