Loading

Architectural Fantasy with Monumental Mortar, Plate 2 from "Vasi..."

Jean-Laurent Le Geay1768, published 1770

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
New York, United States

Architectural fantasy. A framework of beams and posts/piers of a building without walls and roof. Tree branches and small bushes grow or project from the structure. In the foreground, at right, is a large scale mortar, placed on a horizontal pedestal. In the far distance, at left, two small scale figures are standing next to one of the posts/piers.

Show lessRead more
  • Title: Architectural Fantasy with Monumental Mortar, Plate 2 from "Vasi..."
  • Creator: Jean-Laurent Legeay
  • Creator Lifespan: 1710/1786
  • Date Created: 1768, published 1770
  • Type: Print
  • Rights: Gift of Whitney Warren
  • Medium: Etching on paper
  • Viewing Notes: In this architectural fantasy by Legeay a framework of beams, posts and piers suggest a ruined temple. Tree branches and small bushes grow or project from the structure, adding to the feeling of desolation and neglect. In the foreground is an enormous mortar and vase, placed on a pedestal. Two small figures stand in the distance; their diminutive size presents a sharp contrast with the structure apparently built by giants.
  • Provenance: ex-collection Whitney Warren
  • Paper Support: Off-white laid paper
  • Markings: Plate mark
  • Exhibitions: CHNDM - Excavating the Vocabulary of Design: 18th Century Drawings and Prints from the Permanent Collection. [Ground floor gallery], November 4, 2005 - January 8, 2008.Regency to Empire: French Printmaking 1715 - 1814. Baltimore Museum of Art (NOv. 11, 1984 to Jan. 6, 1985); Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (Feb. 6 to March 31, 1985); The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Apr. 27 to June 23, 1985), no. 57D, p. 176, repr. p. 181. Crosscurrents: French and Italian Neoclassical drawings and prints from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design. [see Related Exhibitions]
  • Dimensions: 30.3 x 21.5 cm (11 15/16 x 8 7/16 in.)
  • Bibliography: Regency to Empire: French Printmaking 1715 - 1814. Baltimore Museum of Art and elsewhere, 1985, no. 57D, p. 176, repr. p. 181. Gilbert Erouart. L'Architecture au pinceau. Paris, 1982, pp. 227-231, plates 127 to 151. Crosscurrents: French and Italian Neoclassical drawings and prints from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design. Washington: Published fro the Cooper-Hewitt Museum by Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978, no. 59, p. 75, repr.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Interested in Visual arts?

Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly

You are all set!

Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites