Vases, Furniture and Objects Discovered at Herculaneum

Pierre-Adrien Pâris

1777

Pen and black ink, watercolor, Pen, Ink, Watercolor

J. Paul Getty Museum

A collection of antique furniture and decorative objects are depicted in a flat, illustrative style. The objects include two tall candelabra, two hanging lamps, a table with two vases, a stool, and a chair with sphinx-like supports. Pierre-Adrien Pâris studied and drew these ancient Roman tables, stools, ewers, and lighting devices while on a visit to a Roman museum. He based the chair with the sphinxes on a Pompeian wall fresco. He made many such drawings in preparation for illustrations in a book titled Voyage pittoresque; ou Descriptions des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile (A Picturesque Voyage; or Descriptions of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily), published in 1783. Designers copied these images to furnish the homes of clients eager for rooms in the style of Pompeii. Although scholars had studied classical remains with great interest since the Renaissance,