Ceiling Design
ca.1660–1713
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-333-38
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Nicolas Pierre Loir (1624–1679) was a French artist working at the height of the Baroque period, when grand decorative schemes transformed palaces and churches across Europe. This print, titled *Ceiling Design* and dated 1660–1713, records one of his proposals for an elaborate overhead composition. Such designs were essential to the era’s taste for theatrical illusion, turning flat surfaces into soaring visions of architecture, clouds, and figures. As a print, the work served a practical purpose beyond the original drawing: it allowed architects, painters, and patrons to study, share, and ada...