Design for Domed Ceiling for Mme Païva's Chateau at Neudeck
Medium
Pen and black and gray ink, watercolor, gouache
Dimensions
15 15/16 x 12 1/16 in. (40.5 x 30.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.38
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite design drawing captures the grandeur of 19th-century opulence, created around 1877–84 by architects Jules-Edmond- Lachaise and Eug-Pierre Gourdet. Titled *Design for Domed Ceiling for Mme Païva's Chateau at Neudeck it depicts an elaborate architectural ornamentation for the dome of a lavish chateau owned by notorious courtesan and socialite Mme Païva (Esther Lachmann). Such commissions reflect the era's fascination with lavish interiors during France's Second Empire and early Third Republic, where the elite showcased wealth through intricate, theatrical designs blending architec...
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...