The Easel

22nd September 2026

The Largest Carpet Ever Woven: An Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on the Project Commissioned by Louis XIV

Staff | Finestre sull' Arte | 13th September 2026

In 1668 and living in the Louvre Palace, Louis XIV wanted further personal glorification. This resulted in an unprecedented commission of 92 carpet panels to decorate a 440m hallway. These Savonnerie carpets took 20 years to manufacture, were never displayed as intended and many were sold off during the French Revolution. A video  taken when 32 were recently hung in Paris shows their astonishing scale and detail. Four are briefly on display in New York. Gasps one writer, “Baroque masterpieces”.

Art Institute unveils ode to ‘relentless experimenter’ Mary Cassatt

Courtney Kueppers | Chicago Sun-Times | 8th September 2026

Cassatt was a Paris resident when her friend Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionist group. She agreed and was a regular presence in their later shows. Her paintings had a characteristic focus – contemporary women and their daily lives. Caregiving was, in her hands, treated as a serious subject and domestic scenes were underpinned by a “steely rigour of design”. Says one critic, “the outstanding woman painter of the 19th century”. Discussion of a lost Cassatt mural is here.

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