Perspectival View and Floorplan of a Public (?) Building
ca. 1650-1670
Medium
Pen and brown ink and watercolor over black chalk
Dimensions
Sheet: 16 1/2 × 11 1/2 in. (41.9 × 29.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph McCrindle Foundation Gift, 2023
Accession Number
2023.150
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite anonymous drawing from mid-17th-century France a fascinating glimpse into the architectural imagination of the Baroque era. Titled *Perspectival View and Floorplan of a Public (?)*, it masterfully combines a detailed perspective rendering of a grand structure—likely a public edifice—with its corresponding floorplan. Created around 1650-1670, during the reign of Louis XIV, works reflect the growing emphasis on rational design and spatial clarity in French architecture, influenced by classical principles and the rise of absolutist grandeur. Executed in pen and brown ink with wate...