Monochrome decorative painting

Meaning

Lemma.

Camaïeu here describes Roman reliefs copied in a monochrome painted treatment around Thévenin’s salon. They are not original ancient reliefs merely because their subjects and style are Roman. The same room contains objects painted to resemble bronze, so visual resemblance and material reality are deliberately kept available to the reader. The translation’s “monochrome” supplies the immediate technique without claiming a specific surviving decorative scheme.