Pompeiian Design for Doorway and Wall with Curtain (possibly for Deepdene, Dorking, Surrey)
second half 19th century
Medium
Black chalk, watercolor, and gouache
Dimensions
8 1/4 x 10 in. (21.0 x 25.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.86
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate design by French artists Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise and Eugène-Pierre Gourdet evokes the vibrant frescoes of ancient Pompeii, reimagined for a 19th-century interior. Titled *Pompeiian Design for Doorway and Wall with Curtain* (possibly for Deepdene, the neoclassical estate in Dorking, Surrey), it dates to the second half of the 1800s. Rendered in black chalk for precise outlines, with watercolor and gouache adding luminous color and texture, the 8¼ × 10-inch sheet showcases ornate architectural elements like draped curtains and decorative panels. In the Victorian era, Pompeia...
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...