Design for a Title Page Sheet Music
19th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink brush and watercolor over red chalk on green washed paper.
Dimensions
13 3/4 x 9 5/16 in. (35 x 23.7 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1970
Accession Number
1970.515.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate 19th-century German drawing, titled *Design for a Title Page Sheet Music*, captures the ornate spirit of Romantic-era graphic design. Created anonymously by a skilled hand from Germany, it served as a preparatory sketch for the decorative frontispiece of printed sheet music—a common practice in an age when music publishing flourished alongside the rise of home pianos and public concerts. The artwork's tags highlight its charming motifs: musical instruments like lyres or flutes intertwined with birds, evoking harmony between nature and melody, perhaps symbolizing the soul-stirring...