Object Image

Allegorical Figures for a Ceiling Decoration

Trained in the studio of Simon Vouet (French, 1590–1649), Corneille the Elder was one of the twelve original members of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, founded in Paris in 1648. He painted commissions for churches and décors for private homes. Perched on ornamental elements and seen from below, these softly modeled, draped figures were likely intended as part of a ceiling design.

Credit: Fletcher Fund, 1972

17th century
Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on beige paper.
28.9 x 40.5cm
1972.224.6
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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