Design for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, Belgium

Design for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, Belgium

Charles de Wailly

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of three drawings from the collection of Mrs. Wrightsman, made by the artist Charles de Wailly for the gardens of Enghien. They were part of a larger plan developed by the Duke of Arenberg to redesign the palace and gardens. In 1780 he attracted De Wailly to this end, who finished his overall redesign in 1782, which was never realized. His plans for the garden included this site for a Naumachia, which along with a triumphal arch and the Temple of Apollo was one of the follies meant for the area of the garden described as Mount Parnassus or "New Herculaneum". The drawing in pen and ink with watercolor shows the site of the Naumachia as the ruin of an amphitheater, surrounded by a body of water.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, BelgiumDesign for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, BelgiumDesign for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, BelgiumDesign for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, BelgiumDesign for a Naumachia, in the gardens at Chateau d'Enghien, Belgium

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.