Perspective View of the Interior of a Metropolitan Church

The composition combines pen and black ink with a subtle gray‑brown wash applied over an initial graphite sketch on laid paper. A thin brown chalk line frames the image, reinforcing its architectural focus. The careful balance of line work and wash reflects Boullée’s interest in rational design, while the atmospheric tones hint at the emotive qualities linked to Romantic sensibilities.

After its creation in the early 1780s, the drawing entered the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains on view. Its acquisition history traces the work’s movement from private ownership to a public institution, ensuring its preservation as part of the museum’s holdings of 18th‑century French drawing.

Produced during a period when French architects were exploring visionary concepts of monumental space, the drawing aligns with Boullée’s broader theoretical projects that imagined idealized civic and religious structures. Though not a finished building, the study exemplifies the era’s fascination with grand scale, rational geometry, and the emotional impact of architecture, themes later echoed in Romantic architectural discourse.