Design for a Medal: Bâtiments du Roy, 1740

Art Historical Context

Edme Bouchardon’s *Design for a Medal: Bâtiments du Roy* captures a moment of royal patronage in mid-eighteenth-century France. Created around 1740, the drawing served as a preparatory study for an official medal issued by the Bâtiments du Roy, the administrative branch responsible for the king’s architectural projects under Louis XV. Bouchardon, celebrated for both his sculpture and his refined draughtsmanship, brought a neoclassical clarity to such official commissions, blending allegorical figures with precise architectural references. Executed in red chalk with a subtle wash border, the square sheet demonstrates the artist’s mastery of tonal modeling and clean contours. Red chalk was favored in French academic circles for its ability to suggest both sculptural volume and delicate surface detail, qualities essential when translating a two-dimensional design into struck metal. The presence of human figures indicates an allegorical program typical of period medals, where personifications of architecture, industry, or royal authority celebrated the monarch’s building achievements. Measuring just over eight inches on each side, the compact format allowed the design to be easily reviewed by court officials before being engraved by medalists. Today the sheet offers visitors a rare glimpse into the collaborative process that linked drawing, sculpture, and state propaganda during the Enlightenment.

About the Artist

Edme Bouchardon · 1698–1762

Born 29 May 1698; died 27 July 1762. Bouchardon was a student of Guillaume Coustou, and won the prix de Rome in 1722. He spent ten years (1722-1732) in Rome, Italy working on various projects for Pope Clement XII. In 1732 Bouchardon was recalled to Paris and named sculptor to the king. Bouchardon became a professor at the Académie Royale in 1746. He worked on an equestrian monument of Louis XV, Ki...