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Drawing, Designs for Three Chairs
This is a Drawing. It was attributed to Jean Démosthène Dugourc. It is dated 1790 and we acquired it in 1920. Its medium is brush and watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on white laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
This neatly colored drawing was likely made to present a client with a variety of options for chair designs. Traditionally, when a designer received a commission for a piece of furniture, they would begin with a quick sketch, which would be developed into a more detailed study and finally, a tidy presentation drawing. Like many artists, Jean-Démosthène Dugourc kept an album of his work to show prospective patrons. The illustrative format of three chairs grouped in differing profiles on a creamy white ground was typical of contemporary English pattern books. In the late eighteenth century, Anglomania was widespread among the wealthy in France. Many French designers were influenced by their English counterparts working in the new “Etruscan” style. This decorative repertoire of classicizing ornament was inspired by antiquities being rediscovered on Italian peninsula.The parrot armchair in the presentation drawing appears to have elements made of verde antique, bronze contrived to look old by the application of a green patina. However, an extant chair made after Dugourc’s design by the carpenter George Jacob is made of painted mahogany.
This object was
donated by
Advisory Council.
It is credited Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- Overdoor (France)
- block-printed on handmade paper.
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1931-45-76
- Drawing, Design for Two Andirons and Sconce of Gilt Bronze
- pen and black ink, brush and watercolor on paper, lined, framed with brown....
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1921-6-61
- Drawing, Design for Two Gilt Bronze Chandeliers
- pen and ink, brush and watercolor on paper, lined with paper and framed with....
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1921-6-62
Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.
- Print, Vue perspective de la Chambre à coucher du Cit. V à Paris...
- etching, engraving on cream laid paper.
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1921-6-377-14
- Drawing, Design for a Dining Chair with Arms, for Baker Furniture...
- brush and blue watercolor on pre-printed white wove paper.
- Museum purchase through gift of George A. Hearn.
- 2002-20-2
- Fan Leaf (France)
- silk.
- Bequest of Richard Cranch Greenleaf in memory of his mother, Adeline Emma....
- 1962-58-4
Its dimensions are
Sheet: 21.4 x 34.2 cm (8 7/16 x 13 7/16 in.) Mat: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.) Frame H x W x D: 39.7 x 50.2 x 2.5 cm (15 5/8 in. x 19 3/4 in. x 1 in.)
Cite this object as
Drawing, Designs for Three Chairs; Attributed to Jean Démosthène Dugourc (French, 1749–1825); Germany; brush and watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on white laid paper; Sheet: 21.4 x 34.2 cm (8 7/16 x 13 7/16 in.) Mat: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.) Frame H x W x D: 39.7 x 50.2 x 2.5 cm (15 5/8 in. x 19 3/4 in. x 1 in.); Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council; 1921-6-136
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Hewitt Sisters Collect.
