Floor plan

Time and place18th-century France

18th-century France

Broken Eggs, by Jean Baptiste Greuze, 1756
This is a drawing of a lion in a forested rocky landscape. The lion is seen standing over a defeated animal. In the background, a forest with dense trees frames the scene. One monkey is visible among the rocks watching the lion. The setting conveys a wild, rugged terrain with rocky formations and scattered vegetation. Light and shadow emphasize textures in the lion's mane and the surrounding rocks. The composition focuses on the lion and its prey.
The image shows a sketch of an architectural scene with structures lining a road or pathway. The horizon is not clearly defined, and the sketch focuses on architectural details. The drawing features loose, freehand lines outlining buildings and trees, with classical elements like columns and entablatures. The color palette is monochromatic, with light parchment and dark ink strokes creating contrast. Close-up details are lightly shaded for depth, while distant details are less defined. The composition is open and airy, emphasizing architectural features over precision.
A work made of oil on canvas.
Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788), by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1785
This is a detailed sketch of a lion's head, positioned to show its profile. The drawing features the lion's broad nose, rounded mouth, large eye, and flowing mane. The facial features are depicted with various curves and lines. The sketch is on textured paper with pencil shading creating variations in the background. Handwritten text at the bottom reads "Leone de l'Escalier du capitol."
A young woman with light skin stands in a garden, wearing a voluminous, full-length, silvery, shimmering gown in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces us, as she looks into the distance to our left. She has rosy cheeks, gray-green eyes under gently arched, light brown brows, and her coral-pink, thin, closed lips curve in a slight smile. Her ash-brown hair is pulled back and adorned with tiny shell-pink and azure-blue flowers along the left side top of head, to our right. A pleated lace ruffle encircles her smooth neck. Her gown is parchment white where the light glints off the stiff fabric and is silvery gray in the shadows, creating a silk-like sheen. The dress is cut low across the chest, fits tightly around her narrow waist, and has puffy sleeves tied at the elbows with topaz-blue bows. Another blue bow is tied at her chest, and the ends wrap around her back along her waist. A corsage at her left shoulder, to our right, is a profusion of white flowers around a pale pink rose. In her other hand, to our left, she holds a straw hat with a shallow crown and a wide brim, trimmed with sky-blue ribbon. The arm holding the hat is nearly engulfed in the deep folds of her full skirt. She holds a pink rose in her other hand, which rests on the lip of a shiny, copper-colored urn filled with pink flowers and delicate green leaves. On that wrist she wears a bracelet with four strands of white pearls holding a cameo. She stands on a pale, dirt ground. A teal-blue bench in the lower left corner of the painting is tucked into sage-green shrubbery. Sprigs of pink roses are strewn across the seat and on the ground. The woman is framed to either side with olive and celery-green trees and vegetation, which blend into the hazy distance beyond her head.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in France in the 18th century.

Section 1, north wall

  1. Broken Eggs, by Jean Baptiste Greuze, 1756
    Broken EggsJean Baptiste Greuze, 1756Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. This is a drawing of a lion in a forested rocky landscape. The lion is seen standing over a defeated animal. In the background, a forest with dense trees frames the scene. One monkey is visible among the rocks watching the lion. The setting conveys a wild, rugged terrain with rocky formations and scattered vegetation. Light and shadow emphasize textures in the lion's mane and the surrounding rocks. The composition focuses on the lion and its prey.
    Le lion (The Lion)A.-J. de Fehrt, published 1759Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. The image shows a sketch of an architectural scene with structures lining a road or pathway. The horizon is not clearly defined, and the sketch focuses on architectural details. The drawing features loose, freehand lines outlining buildings and trees, with classical elements like columns and entablatures. The color palette is monochromatic, with light parchment and dark ink strokes creating contrast. Close-up details are lightly shaded for depth, while distant details are less defined. The composition is open and airy, emphasizing architectural features over precision.
    Ancient Ruins on the Bank of the TiberAugustin Pajou, 1752/1756Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The White TableclothJean Siméon Chardin, c. 1731–32Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788), by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1785
    Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788)Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1785Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. This is a detailed sketch of a lion's head, positioned to show its profile. The drawing features the lion's broad nose, rounded mouth, large eye, and flowing mane. The facial features are depicted with various curves and lines. The sketch is on textured paper with pencil shading creating variations in the background. Handwritten text at the bottom reads "Leone de l'Escalier du capitol."
    Lion's Head from the Capitoline StaircaseAugustin Pajou, 1752/1756Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A young woman with light skin stands in a garden, wearing a voluminous, full-length, silvery, shimmering gown in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces us, as she looks into the distance to our left. She has rosy cheeks, gray-green eyes under gently arched, light brown brows, and her coral-pink, thin, closed lips curve in a slight smile. Her ash-brown hair is pulled back and adorned with tiny shell-pink and azure-blue flowers along the left side top of head, to our right. A pleated lace ruffle encircles her smooth neck. Her gown is parchment white where the light glints off the stiff fabric and is silvery gray in the shadows, creating a silk-like sheen. The dress is cut low across the chest, fits tightly around her narrow waist, and has puffy sleeves tied at the elbows with topaz-blue bows. Another blue bow is tied at her chest, and the ends wrap around her back along her waist. A corsage at her left shoulder, to our right, is a profusion of white flowers around a pale pink rose. In her other hand, to our left, she holds a straw hat with a shallow crown and a wide brim, trimmed with sky-blue ribbon. The arm holding the hat is nearly engulfed in the deep folds of her full skirt. She holds a pink rose in her other hand, which rests on the lip of a shiny, copper-colored urn filled with pink flowers and delicate green leaves. On that wrist she wears a bracelet with four strands of white pearls holding a cameo. She stands on a pale, dirt ground. A teal-blue bench in the lower left corner of the painting is tucked into sage-green shrubbery. Sprigs of pink roses are strewn across the seat and on the ground. The woman is framed to either side with olive and celery-green trees and vegetation, which blend into the hazy distance beyond her head.
    Madame BergeretFrançois Boucher, possibly 1766Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 2, south wall

  1. Towering, pale, celery-green trees frame a view of a lush park with about a dozen elegantly dressed, light-skinned men and women in this vertical landscape painting. The color palette is dominated by moss and lemon-lime green, golden yellow, and spruce blue. The men all wear jackets with long tails over knee-breeches, and their long hair is pulled back at the napes of their necks. The women wear long dresses with full skirts and hints of lace at the sleeves and bust, and their brown or white hair is pulled up. Nine of the men and women gather to our right on a stone terrace along the bottom edge of the painting. A man in butter yellow kneels in front of a woman wearing rose pink. Around this pair, people stand, kneel, sit, or recline wearing aquamarine blue, light turquoise, or ivory white. A man and woman sit on a bench to our left, a little removed from the larger group. This woman wears ruby red and the man leaning toward her wears topaz blue. Two people in the park beyond these groups are painted with only a few strokes of pale blue and white paint, and they look over a low hedge row lining the walking path. Beds of red flowers fill the lower corners of the composition in front of a statue of a woman to our left and a person, perhaps on a fountain, to our right. The grassy walking path and trees become more blue as they fade into the hazy distance between the tall tress to either side. The sky fades from pale blue along the horizon to a silvery blue, almost white, at the top.
    A Game of Hot CocklesJean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1775/1780Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of etching in black on ivory laid paper.
    Portrait of Le Roi MaratViller, c. 1795Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of etching with roulette in black on ivory wove paper.
    The Forest of RochecardonJean-Michel Grobon, 1800Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Seated Woman, by Antoine Watteau, 1716–17
    Seated WomanAntoine Watteau, 1716–17Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons, by Jacques-Louis David, 1787
    The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his SonsJacques-Louis David, 1787Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The image shows a man in a red coat in a river, holding on to a horse. A hat floats nearby. Three figures in 18th-century clothing stand on a rocky riverbank looking concerned. In the background, there are trees, a castle-like structure, and large clouds. The brushstrokes are detailed, capturing movement and textures. The color palette includes muted tones like earthy browns, greens, soft blue, and subtle reds.
    Le torrent et la riviere (The Torrent and theRiver)Louis-Simon Lempereur, published 1756Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836), by Jacques-Louis David, 1788
    Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836)Jacques-Louis David, 1788Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. A sliver of land across the bottom of this composition gives way to a procession of puffy gray and white clouds sweeping up across a vivid blue, panoramic sky in this horizontal landscape painting. An area of darker gray beyond the brown land could be a valley, mountain, or shadows from the billowing clouds. About one-fifth of the way up the composition, the horizon glows the faintest peach. The clouds trundle from our left up and to our right. The view is loosely painted, especially in the land.
    Study of Clouds over the Roman CampagnaPierre Henri de Valenciennes, c. 1782/1785Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Portrait of Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Adelaide Le Normand, by François Dumont, c. 1793
    Portrait of Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Adelaide Le NormandFrançois Dumont, c. 1793Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art