Design for Altar
second half 19th century
Medium
Watercolor
Dimensions
15 1/16 x 11 3/8 in. (38.3 x 28.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.63
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate watercolor, *Design for Altar*, created by French architects Jules-EdmondCharles Lachaise andène-Pierre Gourdet in second half of the th century, offers a glimpse into the meticulous planning behind ecclesiastical furnishings. Measuring 15 1/16 x 11 3/8 inches, it exemplifies the preparatory drawings used by 19th-century designers to propose ornate altars for churches, often centered on devotional figures like the Virgin Mary. works bridged architecture and fine art, ensuring harmony in sacred spaces during a era of Catholic revival in France. The use of watercolor as a medium w...
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...