Perspectival study for one quadrant of a ceiling design including a trompe l'oeil balustrade
second half 19th century
Medium
graphite, pen and ink, and watercolor on wove paper
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.429
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite perspectival study, created by French artists Jules-EdmondCharles Lachaise andène-Pierre Gourdet in second half of the th century, captures one quadrant of an ambitious ceiling design. Featuring a trompe l'oeil balustrade optical illusion that mimics a three-dimensional stone railing—the drawing showcases the era's fascination with architectural fantasy. Such preparatory sketches were essential for grand interior projects, like opera houses or aristocratic salons, where illusionistic ceilings blurred the line between painted surface and reality. Executed in graphite, pen and in...
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...