Decorative Panels, Double-leaf Doors, Overdoor Paintings
Pierre Rousseau·1790s
Historical Context
Pierre Rousseau's ensemble of Decorative Panels, Double-leaf Doors, and Overdoor Paintings from the 1790s formed part of the complete interior decorative programme for the Hôtel de Salm, one of the most significant Neoclassical interiors in Paris. The Hôtel was designed by Pierre Rousseau the architect (not the painter — a different Pierre Rousseau) and constructed between 1782 and 1787 for the Prince of Salm-Kyrburg, becoming one of the finest examples of Louis XVI Neoclassical decoration in France. The painted decorative elements by the painter Pierre Rousseau complemented the architectural framework with arabesque ornament, allegorical figures, and trompe l'oeil architectural details that extended the Neoclassical programme from the walls to the movable furnishings. The ensemble at Cleveland preserves a rare intact decorative group from this exceptional context.
Technical Analysis
The decorative ensemble employs a restrained palette of grey, cream, and warm stone colours appropriate to a Neoclassical architectural context, with the ornamental details painted in a trompe l'oeil manner that requires them to read convincingly as three-dimensional architectural elements from a normal viewing distance.
Provenance
Said by Wildenstein & Co. (letter of January 19,1942) to have come from 193 Boulevard St. Germain, Paris (known at the time as 21 and 23 rue St. Dominique), a private house, supposedly built after plans by Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698—1782). Comte Hippolyte Terray, owner of the house from about 1830; Marquise de Belleuf (daughter of Comte Terray); Comte de Waresquiel; Arthur Veil-Picard; [Wildenstein & Co., Paris]; Grace Rainey Rogers, purchased in 1913. Gift of Grace Rainey Rogers in memory of her father, William J. Rainey, 1942 and 1944.
