Where Is Hémicycle (section 3)? Museum Location

Q: Where can I see the Hémicycle?

The fresco remains in situ at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, painted directly onto the semicircular wall of the prize ceremony hall. Visitors can view it during guided tours of this historic art school.

Q: How long did Paul Delaroche work on this?

Delaroche spent four years (1837-1841) creating the Hémicycle. The enormous undertaking exhausted him physically, and he considered it his work. The 27-meter-wide fresco required extensive historical research to accurately portray each artist.

Paul Delaroche completed this monumental fresco section in 1841. The Hémicycle depicts 75 great artists from antiquity to the 17th century seated in a semicircular amphitheater. This third section shows Renaissance masters including Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo in animated discussion, their figures rendered with Delaroche's characteristic historical precision.

The full work spans 27 meters along the curved wall of the École des Beaux-Arts prize hall. Delaroche spent four years on the project, which became the defining achievement of his career. Now at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where it remains integral to the building's architecture.

The fresco remains in situ at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, painted directly onto the semicircular wall of the prize ceremony hall. Visitors can view it during guided tours of this historic art school.

Delaroche painted 75 famous artists from antiquity through the 17th century, including Phidias, Apelles, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Dürer, Rubens, and Poussin. The central figures are Ictinus, Apelles, and Phidias representing architecture, painting, and sculpture.

Delaroche spent four years (1837-1841) creating the Hémicycle. The enormous undertaking exhausted him physically, and he considered it his work. The 27-meter-wide fresco required extensive historical research to accurately portray each artist.

A fire damaged portions of the original in 1855. Delaroche had died in 1856, so his student Charles Béranger led the restoration. The fresco has been carefully preserved since and remains one of the finest examples of French academic painting.

Hémicycle (section 3)

Where to See It

The Artist

Hémicycle Series by Paul Delaroche

Hémicycle (section 2)

Hémicycle (central section)

More by Paul Delaroche

Death of Elizabeth I, Queen of England

Resting on the Banks of the Tiber

Horace Vernet

Also at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA), Paris

Hémicycle (section 2)

Sorrow

Antiochus and Stratonice

Hémicycle (central section)

About Hémicycle (section 3)

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