Design for a Roman Procession
18th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink with brush and gray wash on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 4 7/16 x 9 1/2 in. (11.2 x 24.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.632.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite 18th-century French, titled *Design for a Roman Procession*, a glimpse into the era's fascination with classical antiquity. Created anonymously by a skilled draftsman, it depicts a lively procession featuring men, infants, dogs, ornate vases—likely evoking the festive triumphs or Bacchic revels of ancient Rome. Such designs were common preparatory studies for larger decorative projects, like tapestries, wall panels, or furniture ornamentation, reflecting the opulent tastes of French aristocracy during the Rococo period, when artists revived Roman motifs to blend grandeur with el...
About the Artist
Anonymous, French, 18th century · 1700–1800
The artist known as Anonymous, French, 18th century, represents a collective of unidentified talents active roughly between 1700 and 1800, a period of profound artistic evolution in France from the opulent Rococo to the austere dawn of Neoclassicism and Revolutionary fervor. Little is documented about their personal training or mentors, as their anonymity obscures individual biographies, though th...