Study of a Ceiling Decoration, the Bedroom of the Apartment of the Queen Mother at Fontainebleau

1841

Not on view

Delacroix used drawing as a tool to analyze and recall decorative motifs. Here, he made a detailed record of the richly embellished seventeenth-century ceiling in Queen Anne of Austria's bedroom in the château de Fontainebleau. His descriptive annotations offer nuance such as "the two marbles of the same value; above, more reddish violet and below,nmore green." His notes also suggest that he had in mind his commission to decorate the library at the Palais Bourbon (referencing a pendentive, twenty of which he had to paint for that project). He did eventually incorporate a gold garland against a white background, similar to the design in the drawing, as a border motif in the library.

Artwork Details

Title: Study of a Ceiling Decoration, the Bedroom of the Apartment of the Queen Mother at Fontainebleau
Artist: Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris)
Date: 1841
Medium: Watercolor over graphite
Dimensions: Sheet: 11 5/8 × 18 15/16 in. (29.5 × 48.1 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift from the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, in honor of Lauren C. Reddington and Kenneth Wolf, 2024
Object Number: 2024.591.89
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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