Jacques Rigaud

Jacques Rigaud
(1681–1754)

Les Dômes

Inscribed, 44.

Black chalk, pen and gray ink, gray wash
8 5/8 x 18 5/8 inches (220 x 473 mm)

Purchased on the Lois and Walter C. Baker Fund

2007.89
Item description: 

This is a preparatory design for plate 9 in the artist's 1730 volume of prints depicting views of Versailles from the series Recueil choisi des plus belles vues des palais, châteaux, et maisons royales de Paris et des environs (Paris: Basan, ca. 1720.39). The drawing depicts two pavilions added by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1677 to a quadrant of the Versailles gardens originally planned by André Le Nôtre. While the pavilions are no longer extant, the decorated balustrade remains. The Morgan received a copy of Rigaud's Recueil as the gift of Paul Mellon in 1979.