Design for a "Grande Galerie"
Medium
Pen and black ink, brush and gray and brown wash, over traces of black chalk.
Dimensions
14 3/4 x 32 7/16 in. (37.5 x 82.4 cm.)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1973
Accession Number
1973.638
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jean Charles Delafosse’s *Design for a “Grande Galerie”* (1769) offers a captivating glimpse into the grand architectural ambitions of eighteenth-century France. Created as a preparatory drawing, this work envisions an expansive interior space defined by stately columns and sweeping proportions, reflecting the period’s fascination with monumental public and private interiors. The title itself suggests a space meant for display and ceremony, where architecture served both functional and symbolic purposes. Delafosse employed pen and black ink with delicate layers of gray and brown wash over fai...
About the Artist
Jean Charles Delafosse · 1734–1789
French architect. Comment on works: architect; copper engraver Comment on works: Architect; Draughtsman; Ornamentist; Engraver