# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [LEGRAND, Etienne-François]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The hôtel was built from 1776 to 1792 for Alexandre de Galliffet, a baron grown rich from his plantations in the Caribbean. The building is now home to the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris. Virtually the whole court façade is a stately temple front over two storeys with a horizontal top, a scheme more appropriate to the decorum of public buildings than the residence of a social climber. The picture shows a detail of the garden front. ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()