Vase en plomb bronzé de la piece de Neptune à Versailles
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-475-2
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
This print by Marie Michelle Blondel depicts a bronzed lead vase from the celebrated Neptune fountain at Versailles, one of the most ambitious water features created for the French royal gardens. Produced between 1744 and 1756, the work reflects the refined taste of mid-eighteenth-century France, when artists documented the palace’s lavish sculptural details for wider appreciation. Blondel, active during this period, contributed to a tradition of precise reproductive prints that captured the grandeur of royal commissions. As a print rather than the original sculpture, the piece demonstrates h...