Design for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two Figures

Design for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two Figures

Antoine Le Pautre

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Antoine Lepautre was the third son of the cabinet maker Adrien Lepautre. Little is known about his education, but by the time he got married at the age of 27, he had already been named architect in the service of the king. His buildings are beautiful examples of the emergent French Classicism inspired by the kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The hotel Beauvais, which he built for Catherine-Henriette Bellier, mistress to king Louis XIV, was noted by the Italian sculptor and architect Gianlorenzo Bernini to be one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris. This drawing shows a design for an unidentified interior with an elegant chimneypiece. Remarkable is the daring sculpture of two naked, contorted figures which he placed on top of the mantle. The drawing also reveals something of the working process of Le Pautre: he first outlined the architectural features of the interior in a brown ink and then added life to it by filling in the overdoor paintings with portraits and the two male figures in the doorways on either side of the chimney.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two FiguresDesign for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two FiguresDesign for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two FiguresDesign for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two FiguresDesign for a Wall Decoration with Chimneypiece and Two Figures

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.