Landscape with a Memorial Scene
ca. 1760–80
Medium
Pen and brown ink with red chalk underdrawing
Dimensions
11 3/8 x 8 1/16 in. (28.9 x 20.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1971
Accession Number
1971.513.15
Tags
Art Historical Context
Ennemond Alexandre Petitot’s *Landscape with a Memorial Scene* (ca. 1760–80) captures the refined neoclassical taste of the late eighteenth century. A French architect and designer active in Italy, Petitot specialized in ornamental and architectural fantasies that blended classical motifs with picturesque landscapes. Here, a solemn sarcophagus flanked by lions anchors the composition, surrounded by graceful women, playful putti, and hovering angels—elements that evoke both mourning and the timeless beauty of antiquity. Executed in pen and brown ink over red-chalk underdrawing, the sheet revea...
About the Artist
Ennemond Alexandre Petitot · 1727–1801
Recipient of the Grand Prix in 1745. Court architect to the Bourbons of Parma. Became a citizen of Parma in 1758. Elected a member of the Académie royale d'architecture (France) in Paris in 1762. Macmillan mentions that Petitot worked as urban planner, inventor of decorative displays, technician of hydraulic engineering, engraver and planner of festivals. French architect, printmaker and designer,...