Design for a ceiling
second half 19th century
Medium
Graphite, pen and black ink, and gray wash
Dimensions
Overall: 10 5/8 x 14 13/16 in. (27 x 37.7 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.521
Art Historical Context
This exquisite *Design for a Ceiling* by French artists Jules-EdmondCharles Lachaise andène-Pierre Gourdet dates to the second half of 19th century, a period when opulent interior decoration flourished in Europe amid the rise of historicism and grand public spaces. Created as a collaborative preparatory drawing, it captures the meticulous planning behind elaborate architectural features, likely intended for a lavish room or public hall. Measuring 10 5/8 x 14 13/16 inches, its intimate scale belies the grandeur it evokes, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints dep...
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...