A pencil drawing of a walled garden with five tall conical evergreen trees in a row. Short walls surround the garden forming a rectangular shape with an opening in the front. A set of stairs lead from the right to a platform in front of the garden. Two curved walls jut out from either side of the entrance. A half circle shaped bench is nestled perfectly inside each wall. A walkway leads to the center of the garden and ends at a sculpture of a lounging figure. Another curved bench is set against the right wall. The four corners are filled with grass. The top of the wall is lined with what appear to be small dome-shaped bushes. Faint pencil gridlines can be seen throughout the drawing.

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Object Timeline

1912	Work on this object began.
1919	Work on this object ended.
1991	We acquired this object.
2013	We photographed this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2021	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, Study for Walled Garden with Sculpture, Benches, and a Row of Five Conical Trees

This is a Drawing. It was designed by André Vera and Paul Vera. It is dated 1912–19 and we acquired it in 1991. Its medium is graphite on tracing paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

It is credited Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program Fund.

A bird's-eye view of a formal garden, in dark ink on yellowed paper. Above the design reads 'Berseaux couvers de charmier.' A high rectangular wall of trimmed hedges encloses an interior hedge. For the shape of the inner hedge, imagine an X, then trace around it, curving the line at the intersection and ends of the X. The hedges are pierced with arched tunnels to allow two paths, one horizontal and one vertical, to meet in a fountain court in the center of the garden. The fountain is encircled with eight arched arbors sheltering benches; curving beds of plants and potted topiaries lead out to smaller fountains that sit inside the ends of the X. Below the design, at left, 'D. Marot fec:'. At right, 'avec Privilegie. 11'. At the top of the page is a detail of another garden design with curving plant beds and potted topiaries. The plants are depicted with delicate detail, and squiggling lines suggest the texture of the hedges.

Print, Design for a Garden Parterre of Cut Grass and Colored Gravel, from...
etching on cream laid paper.
Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
1988-4-17

Its dimensions are

21.1 × 25.4 cm (8 5/16 in. × 10 in.) Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16 in.)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Study for Walled Garden with Sculpture, Benches, and a Row of Five Conical Trees; Designed by André Vera (French, active Paris, 1881–1971), Paul Vera (French, active Paris, 1882–1957); France; graphite on tracing paper; 21.1 × 25.4 cm (8 5/16 in. × 10 in.) Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16 in.); Museum purchase from Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program Fund; 1991-58-31

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Modernist French Garden: Design by the Vera Brothers.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2Dw2F/
Accession Number 1991-58-31
Object ID 18636657