Frédéric Charlot de Courcy
Chimera
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
Art Institute of Chicago
Room223Chicago, United States
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
This sumptuously colored, circular plaque depicts a chimera, a mythical hybrid of multiple animals, launching into the air from a rocky precipice with a nude woman clinging to him. It is the earliest and largest surviving product of the five-year collaboration between painter Gustave Moreau and enameler Frédéric Charlot de Courcy. In enamel painting, vitreous powders are mixed with a volatile oil, painted onto a metal support, and fired in a kiln. Artists, collectors, and critics admired the material’s jewel-like surfaces, bright colors, and ability to appear variably translucent and opaque.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2024.88
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0
