Designs for Painted Panels with Fortune and Jacques Necker
Medium
ornament
Classification
ornament
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1911-28-70-2
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Claude-Louis Desrais, a French artist active during the late eighteenth century, created these ornamental designs for painted panels between1788 and 1790. The works feature allegorical and contemporary figures, including Fortune and Jacques Necker, the influential Swiss-born financier who served as director-general of France’s royal finances on the eve of the Revolution. As decorative studies rather than finished paintings, the designs reflect the period’s interest in integrating symbolic imagery into architectural interiors. Dating to a moment of profound political and social change, the pan...