Lot Essay
A student of Blondel and Legeay, Charles de Wailly became a member of the Academy in 1762. He was the architect of the Château de Montmusard, the Odéon Théâtre and the pulpit of the Church of Saint-Sulpice and, in 1760, had been the first architect to use the Ionic order on a Parisian mansion, the Hôtel de Voyer.
The present drawing, executed during de Wailly's stay in Rome, includes as the most prominent feature of the capriccio Bernini's baldachin in Saint Peter's. The free and fluid draughtsmanship recalls to mind Bélanger's comment that 'de Wailly was among the first to abandon the use of the ruler and the compass in order to elaborate architecture more freely with his brushes' (F.J. Bélanger, Journal de Paris, 1r Frimaire, an VII (1798), p. 261).
The present drawing, executed during de Wailly's stay in Rome, includes as the most prominent feature of the capriccio Bernini's baldachin in Saint Peter's. The free and fluid draughtsmanship recalls to mind Bélanger's comment that 'de Wailly was among the first to abandon the use of the ruler and the compass in order to elaborate architecture more freely with his brushes' (F.J. Bélanger, Journal de Paris, 1