Floor Plan for the Renovations of the Château de Rambouillet

Jean Augustin Renard

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

While identified by the inscriptions on this drawing as a plan for the royal castle at Versailles, this drawing represents an unexecuted renovation plan for the Château de Rambouillet. It was proposed to King Luois XVI by the architect Jean Augustin Renard at the end of 1783. Renard faced the difficult task of transforming the existing building, which was deemed too Gothic in taste, into a modern residence that could function as Royal residence and hunting lodge. King Louis XVI ultimately deemed the project too expensive and dismissed Renard’s plans. While other works on the grounds took place in the following years under supervision of the architect Jean Jacques Thévenin, the main building was not worked on until Napoleon tore down the East wing, and had the interiors renovated.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art