Design for Upper Wall Decoration, Farnborough, England
Medium
Watercolor and gilt
Dimensions
9 7/16 x 18 7/8 in. (24 x 47.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.21
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite watercolor design, created between 1880 and 1886 by French artists Jules-EdmondCharles Lachaise andène-Pierre Gourdet, as a proposal for upper wall decoration inborough, England. Measuring a modest 9 7/16 x 18 7/8 inches, it captures the opulent aesthetic of late Victorian interior design, where grand homes and institutions sought to blend heraldic tradition with artistic flair. The inclusion of a coat of arms highlights its role in symbolizing lineage, prestige, or institutional identity, a common motif in 19th-century British decorative schemes. Rendered in watercolor heighte...
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...