The Arcades at the Palais-Royal
Louis Léopold Boilly French, 1761-1845
c. 1804
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front.
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About this work
This remarkably frank image flouted the norms of acceptable subject matter. Here, Boilly depicted the prostitutes—and the men who solicited them—who gathered in the arcade of the Palais-Royal in Paris. Better known for his charming genre paintings, Boilly was denounced in 1793 by a French revolutionary tribunal for painting pictures “of revolting obscenity to republican morals.” He survived and even in 1804, under the Napoleonic government’s somewhat looser standards, he was pushing the boundaries of propriety.
- Artist
- Louis Léopold Boilly French, 1761-1845
- Date
- c. 1804
- Medium
- Pen and black ink, and brush and gray wash, with gray gouache, over black chalk, on ivory laid paper
- Origin
- France
- Collection
- Prints and Drawings
- Reference
- 1963.558 · Art Institute of Chicago