Design for a Wall Elevation with Garlands and a Landcape Scene
17th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over ruled graphite construction
Dimensions
sheet: 6 5/8 x 9 in. (16.8 x 22.8 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
52.570.14
Art Historical Context
This delicate 17th-century drawing an anonymous Italian artist captures the exuberant spirit of Baroque ornamentation, a hallmark of Italy's artistic flowering during that era. Titled *Design for a Wall Elevation Garlands and a Landscape*, it sketches a grand architectural panel for an interior wall, festooned with flowing garlands—likely symbolizing abundance and classical antiquity—and framed by a pastoral landscape. Such designs were preparatory studies for opulent palaces or churches, where frescoes, stucco, and illusionistic painting blurred the lines between architecture and art, immersi...