BOULLÉE, Étienne-Louis
(b. 1728, Paris, d. 1799, Paris)

Plan for a national library

1785
Drawing
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

A huge coffered barrel vault linking colonnades receding into the depths distinguishes Boullée's project for the huge reading room of a projected National Library. A novel and influential motif is the opening of the vault in an elongated top-light.

The drawing shows the interior view.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.