# A French Restoration Bedroom

**Bouilhet, French**  
1823  
Brush and watercolor over graphite on white wove paper  
Frame H x W x D: 50.2 x 39.7 x 2.5 cm (19 3/4 x 15 5/8 x 1 in.)

Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2007-27-5. [The museum's record](https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/view/objects/asitem/id/229900).

## About this work

The style of this small but elegantly decorated bedroom is a reaction to the ornate, gilded and ormolu-encrusted taste of the Empire period. Pale gray paneled walls and polished floorboards create a subdued background. Windows are hung with white muslin curtains, the swags trimmed with tassels. A simple blue needlepoint rug is placed on the floor in front of a blue velvet settee. A tall, six-drawer chest with a white marble top, a small cylindrical bedside table and a corner dressing table-with-mirror reflect the new concept of design in the Restoration period in France.

_Text from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum._

Bouilhet, French painted this in 1823. It is now at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.

### How it was made

- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- **Graphite.** Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.

### [Bouilhet, French](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/bouilhet-french)

## Facts

- Type: Drawing
- Real size: about 20 × 16 in (50 × 40 cm). The 16 × 20 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Romanticism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/romanticism)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1758.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1758/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/a-french-restoration-bedroom-si-chndm-2007-27-5).