Design for Square Pianoforte, Grecian Style
1835–1900
Medium
Pen and ink, brush and wash, graphite
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Jessie F. Hume, 1930
Accession Number
30.16.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of 19th-century design with Robert William Hume's *Design for Square Pianoforte, Grecian Style* (1835–1900). This intricate drawing, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints, captures Hume's vision for a square pianoforte—a compact, rectangular keyboard instrument popular in Victorian parlors before the rise of upright pianos.ed in pen and ink, brush and wash and graphite, it exemplifies precision of ornamental architecture drafts, blending functional furniture with elegant aesthetics. The Grecian style reflects the neoclassical revival sweepi...
About the Artist
Robert William Hume · 1816–1904
Robert William Hume (1816–1904) was a British artist and craftsman who contributed to the documentation of decorative arts and design in nineteenth-century Britain. Working during the Victorian era, Hume was part of a generation of artists and designers who combined artistic skill with antiquarian interests, producing detailed studies and records of historical objects, ornamental patterns, and arc...