Easel

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tradition has it that Empress Marie-Louise presented this easel to her painting teacher, the miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Isabey. Constructed from mahogany, it bears the monogram of Napoleon’s last consort near the top. Easels were regularly found in the painter’s studio and often pictured in artists’ self-portraits, such as the Adélaïde Labille-Guiard’s 1785 painting with two pupils, also in the museum’s collection (53.255.5). Less commonly considered as pieces of domestic furniture, this Empire period example suggests that painting was practiced as a pastime among women of elite rank even after the fall of the Old Regime. This easel is similar to a model executed by Jacob Desmalter and owned by Marie-Louise, located today at the Château de Fontainebleau.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art