Facade for a Church with a Sculpture Representing Faith

c. 1768

Louis Gustave Taraval

Associated Names
Louis Gustave Taraval

Artist, French, 1739 - 1794

This is a drawing of a neoclassical architectural façade. The image depicts a central entrance with steps leading up to it, surrounded by four columns supporting a pediment adorned with reliefs. In the pediment's center, there is a figurative sculpture of a person holding a cross, flanked by two other figures. The side walls have niches holding classical statues. The composition is symmetrical and detailed, showcasing the classical elements of neoclassical architecture.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and gray ink with gray and brown washes over black chalk on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 45.9 x 28.7 cm (18 1/16 x 11 5/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1996.73.5

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Unknown collector (Lugt undesc); (Bruno de Bayser, 1965); (Bernard Houthakker, Amsterdam (Lugt undesc), by 1989); purchased by NGA, 1996.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1986

  • A New World. Neo-Classical Drawings from the Collection of Lodewijk Houthakker, Amsterdam, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1986, no. 106.

Bibliography

1989

  • Fuhring, Peter. Design into Art, Drawings for Architecture and Ornament. The Lodewijk Houthakker Collection. Amsterdam, 1989: no. 777.

Inscriptions

lower right in pen and brown ink: Taraval inven

Wikidata ID

Q64593414

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