Design for the Divertissement from "La Pastorale" (First Entrée of the opera-ballet "Les Muses" by Danchet and Campra")
Medium
pen and black ink and brush and gray wash with red, blue, and yellow wash, with graphite
Dimensions
35.1 × 46.3 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Accession Number
2008.379
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
This drawing represents the elaborate stage set for the opera-ballet Les Muses that premiered in 1703 at the Opéra, the most prestigious public theater in Paris. In a city that thrived on spectacle, the opera-ballet was one of the most fashionable forms of entertainment in the 18th century. Berain’s drawing relates to the third scene in the first of four acts, "La Pastorale," in which shepherds and shepherdesses pay homage to deities in a wooded grove. The celebration, accompanied by flutes and ...