Joseph Borio, Palace

by Atelier Liesjes

On a sheet of paper, the left-hand and bottom edges of which remain unpainted, Borio has sketched a large palace complex using pencil lines and light washes of watercolour. On the left stands a square tower with a steep pyramidal roof and a small dormer window, behind which lies a row of tall chimneys. Next to it rises a wide, tall block of buildings with small, jet-black windows. On the right, a wing juts out featuring a double arcade: two rows of round arches on slender columns, the rear wall of which has been given a soft reddish hue. A lower pavilion with a hipped roof completes the composition on the right, with a low wall or balustrade in front of it. At the base of the building, small figures and a fence are indicated with a few strokes. The drawing is a study, and that is precisely its charm: the draughtsman explores the proportions, sketches the roofs and cornices in grey and brown lines, and lets the washes do their work. The colours remain almost subdued – ochre, grey, pale pink and the occasional cool blue shadow – as if the building were bathed in early morning light. This creates an architectural image that is more about atmosphere than structural precision, in the tradition of nineteenth-century travel and study drawings. The empty spaces around the palace lend the whole scene a sense of floating, as if the building has not quite settled into place yet. Joseph Borio was a nineteenth-century Belgian draughtsman and watercolourist who specialised in cityscapes and architecture. He worked in pencil and watercolour, often on a large scale, and chose his subjects from the historic centres of Brussels and elsewhere in the country. His works are prized for their loose, precise lines and their sense of stone and light, and regularly feature in Belgian collections. A understated, elegant piece for a classic interior or a study.