The Interior of a Large Market

Nicolas Bernard Lépicié French

Not on view

This drawing is a study for one of a pair of paintings commissioned by the abbé Joseph Marie Terray (1715–1778), then controller general of finance, to highlight the activities of agriculture, trade, and commerce that fell under his purview. The setting represented is loosely but recognizably based on the now destroyed outdoor market of Les Halles in central Paris. The bustling scene and abundance of food and goods were intended to project Terray’s successful management of this sector of the economy.

The Interior of a Large Market, Nicolas Bernard Lépicié (French, Paris 1735–1784 Paris), Pen and black and gray inks, brush and gray wash, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk

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