Design for a Baptismal Font
Medium
architecture
Classification
architecture
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund
Accession Number
1938-88-1411
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Giuseppe Barberi, a prominent Italian architect (1746–1809), created this *Design for a Baptismal Font* around 1775, capturing the elegance of late 18th-century Italian design. As a drawing in the architectural medium, it represents a preparatory blueprint for a sacred vessel used in Christian baptism rituals—symbolizing purification and rebirth. Barberi's work reflects the period's shift toward neoclassical restraint, blending classical motifs with functional beauty in ecclesiastical architecture. Baptismal fonts were central to church interiors, often commissioned as ornate focal points to ...