Perspective View of the Interior of a Metropolitan Church

1780/1781

Etienne-Louis Boullée

Associated Names
Etienne-Louis Boullée

Artist, French, 1728 - 1799

The drawing shows an architectural interior with enormous arches and long columns. It features a room with multiple connected dome ceilings decorated with square panels above rows of columns along the sides of the space. Wispy clouds float up into the dome's top, far above the ground. In the distance, throughout several long, column-lined halls, is a white arched opening. Closest to us, at the bottom of the drawing, there is a long set of stairs with two statues to the left and right of center. Upon closer inspection, miniscule people become visible on the stairs and on the long floor of the hall. The people wear robes and sit and stand in groups.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and black ink with gray and brown wash over graphite on laid paper, with framing line in brown chalk

  • Credit Line

    Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 59.4 x 83.9 cm (23 3/8 x 33 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1991.185.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

E. Terry; J. Kugel, 1972; Lodewijk Houthakker, Amsterdam, 1990; Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, Ltd., 1991; purchased by NGA, 1991

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1974

  • Franse tekenkunst van de 18e eeuw uit Nederlandse verzamlingen, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1974, 26-27, 132-133, no. 19.

1982

  • Le Temple. Représentations de l'architecture sacrée, Nice, Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall, 1982, no. 230.

1986

  • A New World: Neo-Classical Drawings from the Collection of Lodewijk Houthakker, Oberlin, Allen Memorial Art Museum, 1986, no. 19.

1992

  • Dürer to Diebenkorn: Recent Acquisitions of Art of Paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992, 3 (reprod.), 37-39, 46, no. 42.

2000

  • Art for the Nation:Collecting for a New Century, NGA, Washington, D.C., 2000, 196.

2009

  • Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009, 246-247, 290-291, no. 107 (color).

Bibliography

1979

  • Monnier, Geneviève, et al., Le Dessin. Geneva, 1979: 140-141.

1989

  • Fuhring, Peter. Design into Art: Drawings for Architecture and Ornament, the Lodewijk Houthakker Collection. 2 vols. London, 1989, 2: 802.

1994

  • Pérouse de Montclos, Jean-Marie. Étienne-Louis Boullée. Paris, 1994: 123, 249-250, reprod. 125, fig. 126.

1997

  • Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London, 1997: 102-103, fig. 25.

2010

  • Stein, Perrin. "French Drawings, Washington," The Burlington Magazine 102 (January 2010): 67.

Watermarks

crest and C. BLAUW

Wikidata ID

Q64560024

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