trompE-l'oeil in the american wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artist James L. Langley was commissioned in 2006 by the Administrator of the American Wing to produce an in situ trompe-l'oeil oil on plaster decoration covering the entirety of the wall surface for one of the MET’s new classical galleries, developed in consultation with the Curator of American Decorative Arts: Peter M. Kenny and Thomas Gordon Smith Architects.
Apparent in Langley’s treatment are the murals at Alsop house (Middletown, Connecticut, 1838) created by Nicola Monachesi (1795–1851) an Italian artist who studied at Accademia di San Luca in Rome and is believed to have painted the earliest frescos in the United States.
The walls here have been given warm ochre shades to resemble limestone ashlar featuring a grisaille painted frieze with acanthus rinceaux and classical winged genii. Another pair of neoclassical genius loci figures painted in bas relief above a doorway leading to curatorial offices support a massive rosette as an intentional decorative accent symbolizing fertility, vitality and regeneration.
Morrison Heckscher, Lawrence H Fleischman Chairman of the American Wing, MET, NY.
"With the redesign of these rooms, we have created a building that allows us to show the collection in many different ways well. The new galleries provide a sympathetic backdrop for historical material. And period rooms and settings representing two centuries of American furnishings are now arranged in a logical, chronological progression, from the colonies to Frank Lloyd Wright."