The Interior of the Colosseum

c. 1745

Charles Michel-Ange Challe

Associated Names
Charles Michel-Ange Challe

Artist, French, 1718 - 1778

The image shows an interior view of an ancient, cavernous structure with stone arches and pillars creating depth. Light filters in through distant openings. The brushstrokes are subtle, using soft and firm lines for texture and shadow on the stone surfaces. The color palette is earthy and muted, with grays and browns. Two figures are close by, reclining against a rock, while another pair is further in the distance, sitting within the ruin.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    black chalk heightened with white on light brown laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 30.4 x 46 cm (11 15/16 x 18 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1999.19.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Private collection, Paris; (Galerie Cailleux, Paris) (sale, Christie's, New York, 28 January 1999, no. 126); (David Tunick, Inc., New York); purchased 1999 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1991

  • Le Rouge et le Noir, Galerie Cailleux, Paris, no. 48.

Bibliography

2009

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009: 142, fig. 1 (color).

Inscriptions

lower left in pen and brown ink: cHM (in monogram) Challe

Watermarks

posthorn (similar to Heawood 2621)

Wikidata ID

Q64538737

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