The Hôtel de Montholon, built in 1785 by François Soufflot and still standing on one of the Grands Boulevards in northern Paris, is a rare example of a sumptuous neoclassical mansion of the eighteenth century. Lequeu was appointed site foreman, in charge of its construction and interior design. This unrealized design for a living room is dominated by a pair of caryatids, sculptural columns in the form of young women thought to have been enslaved symbolically as architectural supports.
Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757–1826)
Design for a Living Room at the Hôtel de Montholon, 1785
Pen and black ink, gray wash, watercolor
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Departement des Estampes et de la photographie