Design for the Stage: A wooded Garden with the Temple of Venus, for André Ernest Modeste Grétry's Anacréon Chez Polycrate

In 1792, not long after his return from Rome, Percier was appointed directeur de décor of the Opéra de Paris. The director of the Opera in 1792-3 was the architect Jacques Cellerier, a former pupil of Blondel and Leroy, whose acceptance of the design is recorded in the inscription. Percier's extensive knowledge of classical antiquities is echoed in the frieze, the candelabra and other details of this drawing. This is one of his few known stage designs immediately preceding his long association with Fontaine from 1794.