Design for 4 seat Rockaway, no. 3536
1879
Medium
Pen and black ink, watercolor and gouache, with gum arabic
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 13/16 × 9 3/16 in. (17.3 × 23.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William Brewster, 1923
Accession Number
23.112.1030
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, America's elite embraced opulent modes of transport, Brewster & Co., New York's premier coachbuilders, crafted designs like this exquisite 1879 drawing for a four-seat Rockaway carriage (no. 3536). The Rockaway, named after the Long Island resort town, was a stylish, four-wheeled vehicle with a removable or folding top, prized for its versatility in urban and country settings. This catalog-style rendering captures the firm's reputation for precision engineering and aesthetic refinement during the Gilded Age, just before automobiles reshaped travel. Rendered on a mode...
About the Artist
Brewster & Co.
**Brewster & Co.** Brewster & Company, a premier American coachbuilder renowned for its exquisite carriage designs, was established in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut, by James Brewster (1788–1866). Born in 1788, Brewster trained as a wagonmaker's apprentice starting at age 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts, before relocating to New Haven, where he set up his workshop and quickly gained acclaim for...