Page from a Scrapbook containing Drawings and Several Prints of Architecture, Interiors, Furniture and Other Objects

Art Historical Context

Step into the refined world of early 19th-century French with this captivating page from a scrapbook Pierre François Léonard Fontaine Charles Percier, created around 1800–1850. These two visionary architects and decorators, close collaborators, were the masterminds behind Napoleon's opulent interiors at the Tuileries and Fontainebleau palaces. Their work defined the Empire style—a bold evolution of Neoclassicism ancient Roman grandeur with modern elegance. This album leaf brims with meticulous pen and black-and-gray ink drawings, graphite sketches, and black chalk studies, alongside several prints of architectural motifs, lavish interiors, and exquisite furniture. Measuring 15 11/16 x 10 inches, it served as a personal design repository, capturing inspirations from classical antiquity to contemporary innovations. Such scrapbooks were essential tools for architects, allowing Fontaine and Percier to refine ideas for imperial commissions that influenced European decorative arts for decades. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, 1963), this page offers a rare glimpse into the creative process of style-setters whose legacy shaped the neoclassical revival, reminding us how sketches on a page could furnish empires.

About the Artist

Pierre François Léonard Fontaine|Charles Percier · 1762–1853

Pierre François Léonard Fontaine (1762–1853) was a pivotal figure in French neoclassical architecture, renowned for his masterful interiors, urban planning, and decorative designs that defined the Empire style. Born in Pontoise to architect and fountain designer Pierre Fontaine, he assisted his father on hydraulic projects at the Château de L'Isle-Adam in 1778–1779 before moving to Paris in 1779. ...