tromp-l'oeil in the american wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

James Langley was commissioned to produce a tromp-l'oeil oil on plaster surface decoration for one of the MET’s new classical galleries, developed in consultation with architect Thomas Gordon Smith. The influence of the Alsop house (Middletown, Connecticut, 1838) is apparent in his treatment. The walls here have been given a warm ochre shade to resemble limestone ashlar with a grisaille painted frieze of classical winged genii and acanthus volutes.