Design for a ceiling with trompe l'oeil balustrade and putti 1850 - 1900

Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise designed this ceiling with trompe l’oeil balustrade and putti. It is rendered in graphite, pen and watercolor. The design reflects the values of the French upper classes who would have lived in such a room. The cherubic putti and pastel hues show a desire for beauty and an affirmation of wealth and privilege. The artistic conceit of the trompe l’oeil, or ‘fool the eye,’ effect, was a popular baroque technique used to create the illusion of three-dimensionality and grandeur in interior spaces. The image reflects a desire to visually expand interior spaces. In reality, this was a way to signal social dominance and cultural authority. To understand the social context of a design like this more deeply, one might look to the history of interior design, and the place of country houses in the French social imagination.