Design for a ceiling
second half 19th century
Medium
Graphite, gouache, and watercolor
Dimensions
Overall: 10 1/2 x 8 5/16 in. (26.7 x 21.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.477
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the opulent world of 19-century French interior design with *Design for a Ceiling*, delicate preparatory drawing by architects Jules-Edmond- Lachaise and Eug-Pierre Gourdet. Created the second half of the1800s, this work captures the era's fascination with lavish architectural embellishments, when grand ceilings adorned palaces, theaters, and public spaces with intricate motifs evoking classical grandeur and emerging eclectic styles. Rendered in graphite for precise lines, enriched with gouache for bold opacity, and softened by watercolor washes, the medium exemplifies the technical...
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...