Design for a Pulpit
18th century
Medium
Pen and black ink, brush and brown, gray, and blue washes, over black chalk underdrawing
Dimensions
sheet: 16 13/16 x 10 9/16 in. (42.7 x 26.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2008
Accession Number
2008.538.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Louis Gustave Taraval’s “ for a Pulpit” a captivating glimpse into eighteenth-century French ecclesiastical art. Created as a preparatory drawing, the sheet reveals the careful planning behind ornate church furnishings that blended sculpture and architecture. In an era when pulpits served as dramatic focal points for sermons, such designs helped patrons and craftsmen envision elaborate structures that would inspire awe within grand interiors. Taraval employs pen and black ink with layered washes of brown, gray, and blue over black chalk, a technique that lends depth and a sense of three-dimen...
About the Artist
Louis Gustave Taraval · 1738–1794
Taraval served as inspector for the Bâtiments du Roi. According to Macmillan, he was influential in the publication of several important architects, including Pierre Contant D'Ivry and Jean François Chalgrin.