Minneapolis Institute of Art

Design for a Wall Decoration at Fontainebleau

Simon Vouet

Date

1643–44

Medium

Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, partially incised for transfer, on beige paper, framing lines in pen and brown ink

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Simon Vouet served at the court of Louis XIII as first painter to the king. At the chateau of Fontainebleau, Vouet used this sketch as the basis for a fresco in the vestibule of the queen's apartments in 1644. The decorations were later destroyed, but they are known from a book of engravings that reproduce the works. This drawing even provided inspiration for the book's title page. The engraver, Michel Dorigny, Vouet's son-in-law, made significant changes to Vouet's drawing when adapting it for print, altering the composition and turning Vouet's robust, monumental figures into thinner, less classicizing women and putti. France, Europe

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