L'Ornement Polychrome - Russian

Chromolithograph. 1887. 420mm by 290mm (sheet) 295mm by 195mm (image). From Racinet's 'L'Ornement Polychrome'. Published in Paris by Firmin Didot. Albert Racinet's 'L'Ornement Polychrome' is a visual record of the decorative arts from antiquity to the nineteenth century. The imagery presented is drawn from a wide array of various mediums, including woodwork, metalwork, architecture, textiles, painting, and pottery, and from cultures all over the world. Although based on past masterpieces of design, the fantastic chromolithographs in 'L'Ornement Polychrome', carried out by a number of skilled commercial artists of the day, can be considered works of art in their own right. Indeed, for Racinet, the purpose of such a compilation of past design excellence was not only to celebrate the masters of the past but also to inspire an improvement of decorative arts in his own day and age. CONDITION : Faint soiling to the edge of the sheet.