A design for the painted decoration of a ceiling or walls
Medium
graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, and gold paint on laid paper mounted on blue wove paper
Dimensions
Overall: 10 3/8 x 14 13/16 in. (26.4 x 37.6 cm) image: 8 1/16 x 8 9/16 in. (20.5 x 21.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.230
Art Historical Context
This delicate design for ceiling or wall decoration was created by the French artists Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise and Eugène-Pierre Gourdet between 1830 and 1897. It exemplifies the collaborative practice common among 19th-century decorative artists, who prepared such detailed studies to present to patrons or guide large-scale painting projects in grand residences and public spaces. Executed in graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, and gold paint on laid paper mounted on blue wove paper, the work demonstrates the careful layering of media used to convey color, light, and ornamental richness. T...
About the Artist
Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise|Eugène-Pierre Gourdet · 1897–1897
Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise, born Jules Lachaise on September 2, 1836, in Paris, emerged as a prominent French painter and draughtsman specializing in lavish interior decorations during the Second Empire and beyond. Little is known about his early life and formal training, though he married Berthe Gourdet in 1866, forging a close professional partnership with her brother, the decorator Eugène-Pi...