CHARLES JOSHUA CHAPLIN (LES ANDELYS 1825 - PARIS 1891)
Composition study for the new ceiling of the Empress's 'Salon Rose'
signed in brown watercolour Ch. Chaplin (lower right)
red chalk on paper, laid down
305 x 245 mm (12 x 9 2/3 in)

The present work is a preparatory sketch for the decoration of the Empress Eugenie's new appartments’ recorded through an engraving by Paul and Henri Sellier and published in the Monde Illustré in 1867. There is another drawing by Charles Chaplin similar in style to the present work representing the Allegory of the Arts in the collection of the Musée Magnin, Dijon (1938 DF 143).