Floor plan

Style galleriesNeoclassicism

Neoclassicism

The Billiard Room, by Nicolas Antoine Taunay, after 1810
A work made of pen and brown ink, with traces of graphite, on tan wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper.
This oval painting depicts a cherubic child in a garden setting. The child is standing with one foot in front of the other and has small wings on their back. The child has light skin, curly blond hair, rosy cheeks, and a playful expression. They are mostly nude, except for a cloth that wraps around their back and covers their groin. The child is holding a golden arrow. They are standing in front of a light green bush with pink flowers. In the bottom left, there is a dark blue object in the green grass that looks like a torch or cylindrical quiver. The setting includes lush greenery and more clusters of pink and white flowers. The background features a pastel blue sky with soft pink clouds and two white doves flying above.
The image shows a landscape with a wooden bridge crossing over a river in a valley. The scenery includes cliffs, trees, and flowing water below. The artwork features fine, detailed brushstrokes depicting the texture of the cliffs, foliage, and water. The color scheme is monochromatic with various shades of gray and sepia tones. Two figures are seen on the bridge, contributing to the sense of scale and activity in the serene setting.
A work made of oil on canvas.
The image features two men in military uniform engaging closely with each other. Both are shown from head to toe. The man on the left stands with his left leg forward, holding a rifle, and has his right arm around the shoulder of the other man. The man on the right has his right leg slightly bent, supporting his weight, and is holding a sword in his left hand. Each man has distinctive facial features. Both wear tall, elaborate military hats and detailed uniforms. The man on the left displays a strap over his shoulder, while the man on the right has intricate decorations on his jacket and trousers. In the background, there are a few more soldiers and part of a building to the left. The setting is monochromatic.
The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons, by Jacques-Louis David, 1787

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Europe turns back to Greece and Rome: clear line, calm figures and civic virtue.

First room, north wall

  1. The Billiard Room, by Nicolas Antoine Taunay, after 1810
    The Billiard RoomNicolas Antoine Taunay, after 1810Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of pen and brown ink, with traces of graphite, on tan wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper.
    Sketches of Algerian MenEugène Delacroix, c. 1832Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. This oval painting depicts a cherubic child in a garden setting. The child is standing with one foot in front of the other and has small wings on their back. The child has light skin, curly blond hair, rosy cheeks, and a playful expression. They are mostly nude, except for a cloth that wraps around their back and covers their groin. The child is holding a golden arrow. They are standing in front of a light green bush with pink flowers. In the bottom left, there is a dark blue object in the green grass that looks like a torch or cylindrical quiver. The setting includes lush greenery and more clusters of pink and white flowers. The background features a pastel blue sky with soft pink clouds and two white doves flying above.
    Love the SentinelJean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1773/1776Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. The image shows a landscape with a wooden bridge crossing over a river in a valley. The scenery includes cliffs, trees, and flowing water below. The artwork features fine, detailed brushstrokes depicting the texture of the cliffs, foliage, and water. The color scheme is monochromatic with various shades of gray and sepia tones. Two figures are seen on the bridge, contributing to the sense of scale and activity in the serene setting.
    Im Höllenthal (In the Höllen Valley)Johann Christoph Erhard, 1818Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

First room, south wall

  1. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Mount Athos Carved as a Monument to Alexander the GreatPierre Henri de Valenciennes, 1796Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. The image features two men in military uniform engaging closely with each other. Both are shown from head to toe. The man on the left stands with his left leg forward, holding a rifle, and has his right arm around the shoulder of the other man. The man on the right has his right leg slightly bent, supporting his weight, and is holding a sword in his left hand. Each man has distinctive facial features. Both wear tall, elaborate military hats and detailed uniforms. The man on the left displays a strap over his shoulder, while the man on the right has intricate decorations on his jacket and trousers. In the background, there are a few more soldiers and part of a building to the left. The setting is monochromatic.
    Two GrenadiersVictor AdamCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. 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

Second room, south wall

  1. Overdoor Painting and Double-Leaf Doors, by Pierre Rousseau, 1790s
    Overdoor Painting and Double-Leaf DoorsPierre Rousseau, 1790sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. A work made of soft ground etching, hard ground etching, aquatint, and roulette, printed from two plates in red-brown and black, on ivory laid paper.
    Portrait of a Man in an Armchair, from Collection d'imitations de Dessins d'après les Principaux Maîtres Hollandais et FlamandsChristian Josi, 1826Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME IN PARIS
    Cathedral of Notre Dame in ParisCharles Nicolas Ransonnette, 1825–1840Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Second room, north wall

  1. A woman wearing flowing, pastel-colored robes and two, winged, child-like putti gather on a bank of clouds among musical instruments and sheet music in this horizontal painting. The people all have pale, pink-tinged skin. The woman sits to our right of center, facing our left in profile. She has straight nose, a rounded chin, and her small, pink lips are closed. Her ash-blond hair is pulled back under a yellow band. A voluminous white robe falls away over her left shoulder, to our right, to reveal a firm breast and small pink nipple. Sky-blue drapery wraps over her far arm, and deep rose-pink cloth falls across her lap and onto the clouds around her. Her legs extend to our left, her toes pointed. She leans back on her left elbow, closer to us, and points with that index finger to a lyre she props against her knee with her other hand. One chubby, nude putto reaches forward to strum the strings. The other putto hovers above, holding a ring of laurel leaves up in one hand and a flute in the other. Both putti have chubby limbs and torsos, blond curls lifted as if in a breeze, and short, ice-blue wings. Both look at the woman. In the lower left corner, a helmet with a topaz-blue feather and the gold hilt of a sword sit near the woman’s feet. Beneath the woman’s lower leg, at the bottom center of the painting, is a gold horn encircled by another wreath of laurel leaves. Two white doves with wings spread support an open book of sheet music and two pink roses tucked under the woman’s bent elbow. Fog-gray clouds billow up both sides of the scene against a pale blue sky. The clouds on which the trio gathers are parchment brown shaded with mauve pink. The outer corners of the image are white, indicating that the corners of the canvas were rounded. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “F Boucher 1764.”
    Allegory of MusicFrançois Boucher, 1764Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762–1848), by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1789
    Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762–1848)Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1789Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. A work made of pen and brown ink and black ink wash, with brown ink wash, on blued-white laid paper.
    Odysseus, at the Doors of Hades, Meets the Shades of Tiresias and AnticleaJohann Heinrich Lips, 1785Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Third room, north wall

  1. A work made of graphite and pen and black ink, with touches of opaque, white watercolor on cream laid paper.
    Farmer Requesting Permission to Marry a Nobleman's DaughterGabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1761Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Invocation to Love, by Jean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1781
    Invocation to LoveJean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1781Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  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