Design for mural decoration surrounding a door: landscape with classical ruins 1830 - 1897

Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise sketched this mural design with graphite on paper. It shows a landscape with classical ruins intended to surround a door. The artist's choice of graphite, a relatively accessible material, allows for the detailed depiction of the scene. The dense graphite lines create a contrast with the paper, giving form to the classical ruins, vegetation, and the statue of a standing figure. You can see the artist used shading and hatching to convey depth and texture. This detailed rendering suggests the skilled hand of the artist, but also implies a potentially laborious translation into a large-scale mural. The use of drawing as a preliminary stage is also a form of intellectual labor. By considering the processes of making, we can appreciate the thought and skill that went into the design, as well as the wider social context of artistic production. The value of this sketch lies not just in its aesthetic appeal, but in the labor, design, and potential for architectural intervention it represents.