Franois-Joseph Blanger* (1744-1818)
Franois-Joseph Blanger* (1744-1818)

Design for an elaborate Fireplace at the Chteau de Maisons, France

Details
Franois-Joseph Blanger* (1744-1818)
Design for an elaborate Fireplace at the Chteau de Maisons, France
signed and inscribed 'Belanger invenit Dtail en grand des Salles manger de Maisons'
black chalk, pen and black ink, watermark D&C Blauw
17.3/8 x 24 in. (442 x 628 mm.)

Lot Essay

This is a study for the fireplace of the dinning room of the Maisons, whose restauration was commissioned by Comte d'Artois, futur King Charles X, to the architect Blangaer in 1777. Maisons, near Saint Germain and Versailles, was originally built by Mansart. Throughout his restauration Blanger respected the spirit of Mansart architecture: he only cleaned and fixed the outside and in the inside he used Mansart's original fixtures and added more to create a Louis XVI interior. Mansart's ionic columns were kept and more were added.
The dinning room, still extant, was finished in 1782. The fireplace is quasi-unchanged compared to the drawing, the only difference being the fluted columns flanking the fireplace. The ornementist Lhuillier has exactly reproduced Blanger's decoration on the mantelpiece.