Lot 163: Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1787-1861)

Design for the decoration of a cupola in a theatre signed 'A. Abel de Pujol' and inscribed 'Avant ScŠne', further inscribed 'Racine', 'Corneille' and 'Moliere' and another, possibly 'Shakespeare' in cartouches within the composition pencil, watercolour, heightened with gold 290 x 290 mm. NOTES A student of Jacques-Louis David, Abel made his name as a painter primarily through his ceiling decorations. Abel's most celebrated decorative schemes included his work at Fontainebleau and, in collaboration with Charles Meynier, the grisaille decoration of the ceiling of the great hall of the Bourse in 1826. The present study, apparently for the ceiling of a theatre, has not been connected to one of Abel's known projects.