Grand Salon from the Hôtel de Tessé, Paris
ca. 1768–72, with later additions
Medium
Carved, painted, and gilded oak; marble; plaster
Dimensions
H. of room 16 ft. (4.87 m), W. 29 ft. 6-1/2 in. (9 m), L. 33 ft. 7-1/2 in. (10.25 m)
Classification
Woodwork
Culture
French, Paris
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Herbert N. Straus, 1942
Accession Number
42.203.1
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the lavish Grand Salon from the Hôtel de Tessé, a Parisian mansion built for the aristocratic Tessé family around 1768–72. This opulent room, now lovingly preserved at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the grandeur of pre-Revolutionary France during the transition from Louis XV's Rococo exuberance to the emerging Neoclassical restraint of Louis XVI. Gifted 1942 by Mrs. Herbert N. Straus, it transports visitors back to the salons where Enlightenment thinkers and nobles gathered amid shimmering elegance. Crafted by a team of master artisans—including Louis-Pierre Fixon, Louis Le Tellier, Nicolas Huyot, Pierre Fixon, and Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lefranc—the salon features intricately carved, painted, and gilded oak paneling (boiserie), complemented by marble chimneypieces and plaster decorations. Measuring an impressive 16 feet high, 29 feet wide, and over 33 feet long, its mirrored walls, delicate moldings, and floral motifs showcase virtuoso woodworking techniques that highlighted the wealth and refined taste of 18th-century Paris elite. As a rare surviving intact interior, this woodwork exemplifies French decorative arts at their peak, blending functionality with artistic splendor. It offers a window into the social rituals of the Ancien Régime, reminding us how architecture shaped daily life among the nobility before the upheavals of 1789.
About the Artist
Louis-Pierre Fixon|Louis Le Tellier|Nicolas Huyot|Pierre Fixon|Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lefranc ( | | | | ) · 1748 |1695 |1700 |1748 |1725 –1848 |1785 |1791 |1788 |1825
born 1748|ca. 1700–1785|1700–1791|active 1748–88|