Design for Cabriolet or Victoria, no. 3575
1880
Medium
Pen black ink, water color and gouache
Dimensions
sheet: 6 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (17.1 x 23.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William Brewster, 1923
Accession Number
23.112.371
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of 19th-century coachmaking with *Design for Cabrio or Victoria, no. 5* by Brewster & Co., in 1880. Renowned New York firm Brewster & Co. crafted luxury horse-drawn carriages for America's elite during the Gilded Age, this drawing captures their masterful design for either a sleek cabriolet—a light, two-wheeled open carriage—or a four-wheeled Victoria, both symbols of refined mobility and social status. Rendered on a compact sheet measuring 6 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches, the work employs precise pen black ink for sharp lines, enhanced by vibrant watercolor and gouache for l...
About the Artist
Brewster & Co.
**Brewster & Co.** Brewster & Company, a premier American coachbuilder renowned for its exquisite carriage designs, was established in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut, by James Brewster (1788–1866). Born in 1788, Brewster trained as a wagonmaker's apprentice starting at age 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts, before relocating to New Haven, where he set up his workshop and quickly gained acclaim for...