Grisaille Dining Room Murals
Immersive wall murals with understated elegance.
The interior designer of this upscale Lake Shore Drive apartment appointed this dining room with traditional furnishings and approached Pretorius Studio to create a solution for hand-painting the walls in a neoclassical style in order to complement the other room elements.
Looking to the past for timeless artistic appeal.
The client was intrigued by an Arcadian eighteenth-century French wallpaper, but the look was too stiff and stylized. We mocked up a range of looser interpretations with a similar sepia tone but more fluidity and movement. The subtle monochromatic grisaille chosen by the client creates graceful depth in the room without overpowering it.
Using a warm grey palette of oil paints on canvas, we painted a series of custom-sized murals featuring a soft, lush landscape with classical architectural elements, which lend themselves especially well to grisaille work. The freshness and vitality of the brushwork elevates and distinguishes these murals from printed wall coverings.
The panels were hand-painted in our studio, then installed on the dining room walls, from crown to baseboard, corner to corner. We added luminosity with silver leaf on the pilasters. The result is an extraordinarily elegant room. This mural work won an Acanthus Award from the Institute for Classicism in Architecture and Art.
An Arcadian eighteenth-century French wallpaper (pictured above) was the inspiration for our hand-painted grisaille murals.
“This elegant mural transforms the room with the detailed brushwork and illusion of depth. It is encouraging to know that there are skilled artisans keeping the tradition of grisaille alive and well.”
The murals won an Acanthus Award from the Institute for Classicism in Architecture and Art.