‘The Family of Darius before Alexander’ is part of a series of the History of Alexander originally designed by Charles le Brun between 1660 and 1673 for Louis XIV, and woven at the Gobelins. Le Brun painted five full-scale paintings which served as models for the tapestries: ‘The Family of Darius before Alexander’, ‘The Triumph of Alexander’, ‘The Battle of Granicus’, ‘The Battle of Arbelles’ and ‘Alexander and Porus’. The compositions were so large that some of them were divided into sections to be woven, making a total of eleven tapestries. The Alexander series was the first major new tapestry commission of Louis XIV’s reign, and the tapestries were designed to compliment the King by comparing his virtues and achievements to those of Alexander the Great (Fénaille 1903–23, vol. 2, pp. 167–185). The success of the ‘Alexander’ series was such that the designs were quickly copied and adapted for weaving at lesser French workshops, including the town of Aubusson, which became a Royal Manufactory in 1665, and nearby Felletin, in the La Marche region of central France.