Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

Design for a pediment with ornamental filling (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1684-1754

Title

Date of Production

1700 - 1799

Medium

graphite, pen and grey ink, grey wash (recto), graphite (verso), on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 19 cm
Width: 42.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4243

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

It is evident that this drawing is the work of a sculptor because the lines of the pediment do little more than establish the parameters of the space that relief sculpture will fill. By architectural convention, pediment sculpture announces the identity and function of a building. The vase of flowers framed by garden implements – scythe and rake – seems to indicate the garden façade of a country house. The peace and pleasure of this idyllic pastoral scene is disturbed by the pair of hissing serpents to either side of the mascaron, the asymmetry of whose writhing coils threaten to unbalance this ornamental world. Pineau was at the forefront of the Rococo movement. By the mid-century he was held especially responsible for the ‘decadence’ it wrought on French ornament.

Provenance

Emmanuel Alfred Beurdeley, Paris (1847-around 1919), L.421; Paul Prouté (Paris); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Ornament by Design, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/04/2016-12/06/2016

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: upper centre: a name, too faint to make out.

Inscription: Recto: upper right edge, graphite, partially erased: “Pineau […] / Ca[…] du XVII / Dessin d’un fronton //”. Verso: upper left corner, graphite, underlined: “N Pineau”; lower right edge, graphite: erased and now illegible. Mount (removed, in portfolio from P&D), Recto: lower centre, graphite, unclear: “1aa”; lower centre, graphite: “N. Pineau”; lower right corner, graphite: “#4”.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, added on a separate piece of paper, cut around the mark and pasted down, stamped in black ink: Emmanuel Alfred Beurdeley (L.421). Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection