Decoration Executed for the Birthday of His Majesty the King of Westphalia
Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri1811
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
A scenic designer for the Paris Opera, Cicéri created this decoration for a performance celebrating the birthday of Emperor Napoleon’s brother, Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860), King of Westphalia, a vassal state of territories taken from Prussia and its allies. Antoine-André Bruguière, named in the inscription as the commissioner of the decoration, was Westphalia’s secretary of the ministry of war and the superintendent of theaters in Kassel, the state’s capital city. The title of the special performance is unknown, but the triumphal arch, Corinthian columns topped with vases, and classical statues all suggest a Roman theme.
- Title: Decoration Executed for the Birthday of His Majesty the King of Westphalia
- Creator: Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri (French, 1782-1868)
- Date Created: 1811
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 32 x 42.3 cm (12 5/8 x 16 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 44 x 53.2 cm (17 5/16 x 20 15/16 in.)
- Type: Drawing
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.341
- Medium: Pen and black ink and watercolor with graphite; heightened with white gouache on off-white wove paper
- Inscriptions: verso, center right, in graphite: 1930; secondary support, lower center, in graphite (under primary support): Bas; lower center, in brown ink: décoration Exécutée pour l'anniversaire de la naissance de S. M. le Roi de Wesphalie, / Ordonnée par Monsieur bruguière Surintendant des théatres. / Dessin exécuté au théâtre de Cassel en 1811, par cicéri, Ier ["er" underlined] peintre de l'Opéra.
- Department: Drawings
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit Line: Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Collection: DR - French
- Accession Number: 2008.341
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