The Palais Royal Gallery’s Walk

In this caricature of French society, men strut like pigeons, pick-pockets eye the jewelry of distracted ladies, and hairstyles are a yard high. The Palais Royal in the center of Paris was owned by Duke Philippe d'Orléans, the King's cousin, who supported his lavish lifestyle by building a large gallery with shops in his palace's garden. Considered the prototype for enclosed commercial passages, it was the most notorious and well-attended spot for fashionable crowds to parade.

Philibert-Louis Debucourt was a French painter and printmaker especially known for his innovations in color printing which simulate the look of watercolor. His nuanced and delicate colors are exceptionally well-preserved in this impression. The Palais Royal Gallery's Walk became one of Debucourt's most successful printing ventures, leading to the creation of a companion piece five years later, The Public Promenade, also in the Museum's collection.