The City of Lyon
1899
Guillaume Dubufe created this swirling, circular masterpiece in 1899 as a grand allegory for the city of Lyon. At the center, a radiant female figure—personifying the city itself—stands draped in flowing blue robes, accepting the city keys from a cherub while another crowns her with laurel. The composition is a dreamy cloudscape filled with winged figures and symbolic characters, like the woman on the right clutching grapes to represent the region's famous vineyards. Notice how the figures at the very top are painted upside down? That’s a clever trick of Academic ceiling painting, designed to look perfectly right when you stand on the floor and look up!