Ruins in the Interior of the Colosseum
Charles Michel-Ange Challe (Paris 1718 - Paris 1788)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
circa 1747
Materials
Black chalk heightened with white on pinkish paper
Measurements
412 x 578 mm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 267145
Summary
Black chalk drawing heightened with white on pinkish paper, Ruins in the Interior of the Colosseum by Charles Michel-Ange Challe (Paris 1718 - Paris 1788), signed on back: M. a. challe. A view of the ruined interior of the Colosseum, Rome, with a figure seated before the massive tumbled blocks of stone at bottom left. Challe trained initially as an architect, but then studied painting under François Boucher. In 1741 he won the Prix de Rome, which entitled him to study at the French Academy in Rome, where he stayed until 1749, producing chalk drawings in the style of Piranesi.
Provenance
Mrs Bernard Smith; purchased by Colnaghi 25 May, 1958; from whom purchased by Brinsley Ford, 15 January 1959 for £60 and by descent to Augustine Ford. Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Augustine Ford and allocated to the National Trust for Osterley, 2023.
Marks and inscriptions
Reverse: M.a. challe
Makers and roles
Charles Michel-Ange Challe (Paris 1718 - Paris 1788), artist
References
Wunder 1968 Richard P. Wunder, 'Charles Michel-Ange Challe: A Study of his Life and Work', Apollo, vol.l xxxvii, January 1968, pp.2 2-33 Ford 1998 Brinsley Ford, John Ingamells, Francis Russell, John Christian, Nicholas Penny, Jennifer Montagu, Howard Coutts, Timothy Wilson & Dudley Dodd, The Ford Collection – II, Walpole Society, Vol. 60, 1998, pp. 91-376, RBF163 Garnett 2015: Oliver Garnett, At Home with Art Treasures from the Ford Collection at Basildon Park, National Trust, 2015, p. 21