Design for a Wall Elevation

Etienne de Lavallée-Poussin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This detailed wall design by the artist Étienne de Lavallée-Poussin is a very beautiful example of how elements from Classical Antiquity were adapted to fit a modern-day 18th-century interior. The overall scheme of his design – a fireplace in the center, combined with painted wall panels and the torchères - goes back to 17th-century French examples, but the individual parts are all attuned to the latest taste for neoclassical design. He combines stern architectural elements with a light sculptural relief and playful decorations to form a very original scheme. Several mythological themes are introduced in the décor. The wall panels portray the Venus and Adonis (left) and Diana, goddess of the hunt (right), while in the sculptural details we find Leda and the Swan and Venus and Cupid. The partially applied washes indicate that many elements were to be gilded. The artist also added an alternate view for the fireplace with the hearth opened up, a detail which has unfortunately been lost, but can be deduced from the abraded strip on the bottom of the sheet where the addition was originally attached.

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