Retour sur l'hôtel d'Aumont

• Autores: Florian Knothe
• Localización: Revue de l'art, ISSN 0035-1326, Nº. 172, 2011, págs. 39-47
• Idioma: francés
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• Resumen

  • The building of the Hôtel d'Aumont was a truly exiting architectural project in the 1770s, reflecting the tastes and skills of Gabriel, Trouard, Pâris and Aumont, and representing one of the first neo-classical palaces with arabesque interiors. New research facilitates a re-evaluation of the cabinet in the apartment of the duc d'Aumont that has since been acquired and displayed by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. On the basis of an examinations concerning the architectural context within it was placed originally, the possible use to which this octagonal space may have been put can be explained, and its decoration and its authorship suggested by considering the quality and style of its decoration as well as the duke's taste and patronage of individual artists. The little room, decorated so elegantly, can be seen as the pinnacle of theatrical decoration in a building of which the mock-façade itself had played part in a theater-like performance when the Place Louis XV was opened in 1763. Its decoration indicates Aumont's interest in the latest styles and his support for the most fashionable artists of the day. The number of different craftsmen working on his interior decoration further suggests his involvement in choosing individual artists for their qualities, as he treated his apartment and his art collection with equal care. The fact that the attribution to a single artist cannot be made with certainty testifies to the significance of arabesque ornament at the time. Publications like that of Lavallée were common during the reign of the Louis XVI and guarantied a widespread of arabesque decoration. Consequently, the number of artists exploiting these sources grew and architects and painters took advantage of the designs of others and worked in this fashionable genre even if they had not studied in Italy themselves.