Design for Wall Paneling
ca. 1750–70
Medium
Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash.
Dimensions
7 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (19.7 x 14.0 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1948
Accession Number
48.148(24)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Design for Wall Paneling created by an anonymous French artist around 1750–70, captures the exuberant spirit of the Rococo era in mid-18th-century France. During the reign of Louis XV, opulent interiors adorned the salons of the aristocracy, where intricate boiseries—carved wooden paneling—transformed walls into sculptural masterpieces. Such designs emphasized asymmetry, scrolling motifs, and playful ornamentation, reflecting a shift from the grandeur of Baroque toward lighter, more intimate elegance inspired by nature and fantasy. Rendered in pen and gray ink with brush and gr...
About the Artist
Anonymous, French, 18th century · 1700–1800
The artist known as Anonymous, French, 18th century, represents a collective of unidentified talents active roughly between 1700 and 1800, a period of profound artistic evolution in France from the opulent Rococo to the austere dawn of Neoclassicism and Revolutionary fervor. Little is documented about their personal training or mentors, as their anonymity obscures individual biographies, though th...