Design for a Decorated Panel of a Carriage
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, on cream laid paper
Dimensions
4 x 4-13/16 in. (10.1 x 12.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1952
Accession Number
52.570.206
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing, *Design for a Decorated Panel of a Carriage* by Giovanni Larciani—known as the "Master of the Kress Landscapes"—captures the grandeur of 18th-century European coach design. Created as a preparatory sketch for an ornate carriage panel, it reflects the era's obsession with lavish decoration, where vehicles served as rolling symbols of status for nobility and the elite. Small in scale at just 4 x 4 13/16 inches, the work hints at intricate scenes featuring men and animals, evoking lively processions or mythological motifs typical of Baroque and Rococo ornamentation. Execut...
About the Artist
Giovanni Larciani ("Master of the Kress Landscapes") · 1700–1800
Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani (1484–1527), a Florentine painter known initially as the "Master of the Kress Landscapes," emerged from obscurity in the mid-1990s through the scholarship of Louis Waldman, who linked him to documents including a 1521 contract for an altarpiece. Born and active in Florence until his death, Larciani specialized in religious scenes enriched by vivid, atmospheric landscap...