Design for a ceiling decorated with clouds and birds
Medium
graphite, pen and ink, watercolor and gold paint on wove paper; mounted on blue paper
Dimensions
Overall: 13 3/8 x 19 1/2 in. (33.9 x 49.5 cm) image: 11 1/4 x 13 11/16 in. (28.5 x 34.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.310
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Design for a Ceiling Decor with Clouds and Birds*ca. 1830–97) by French artists Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise and Eugène-Pierre Gourdet captures the grandeur of 19th-century decoration. Created as a preparatory drawing, it envisions a heavenly canopy alive with ethereal clouds and soaring birds, likely intended for a lavish salon, theater, or public space. Such designs were essential in an era when opulent ceilings symbolized wealth and whimsy, blending natural motifs with architectural splendor during France's Romantic and Second Empire periods. Executed on wove paper with gra...
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...