Design for a Frontispiece
ca. 1793
Medium
Watercolor, pen and brown ink, brush and wash, over graphite
Dimensions
sheet: 8 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. (22.2 x 26.7 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1961
Accession Number
61.622.43
Tags
Art Historical Context
Josiah Boydell’s *Design for aispiece*, created around 1793, offers a glimpse into the preparatory process of late-eighteenth-century book illustration. As a member of the prominent Boydell publishing family, Josiah contributed to ambitious print projects that brought literature and history to wider audiences. This drawing likely served as a compositional study for the opening page of a publication, where symbolic imagery would introduce the book’s themes to readers. Executed in watercolor, pen and brown ink, brush and wash over graphite, the sheet demonstrates the layered techniques artists ...
About the Artist
Josiah Boydell · 1752–1817
Comment on works: Portraits; History