Chippendale Drawings, Vol. II
ca. 1753–70
Medium
Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash
Dimensions
Overall: 17 3/16 x 11 1/8 in. (43.7 x 28.3 cm) sheet: 8 11/16 x 13 5/16 in. (22 x 33.8 cm)
Classification
Albums|Ornament & Architecture|Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920
Accession Number
20.40.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Chippendale’s *Chippendale Drawings, Vol. II* offers a rare glimpse into the creative process of one of the eighteenth century’s most influential furniture designers. Created between about 1753 and 0, these sheets of pen and black ink with gray wash served as working studies for ornamental details that would later appear in Chippendale’s celebrated publication, *The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director*. The medium’s crisp lines and subtle tonal washes allowed the artist to convey both the precise contours of carved motifs and the play of light across three-dimensional surfaces, a tec...
About the Artist
Thomas Chippendale · 1718–1779
Thomas Chippendale, baptized on June 5, 1718, in Otley, Yorkshire, was born into a family steeped in woodworking traditions, the only child of joiner John Chippendale and Mary Drake. His father likely provided his initial hands-on training in cabinetmaking, supplemented by time in the workshop of York joiner Richard Wood, before Chippendale relocated to London around 1749. He married Catherine Red...