Design for the Frigate "La Didion"
18th century
Medium
Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash
Dimensions
14 1/4 x 39 3/8 in. (36.2 x 100 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1970
Accession Number
1970.736.50
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the world of 18th-century naval ambition with this exquisite *Design for the FrigateLa Didion"*, an anonymous French drawing that captures the precision of shipbuilding during France's golden age of sail. Created in the 1700s, this large-scale work (14¼ x 39⅜ inches) depicts the sleek lines and structural details of a frigate—a fast, versatile warship essential for patrolling oceans and engaging in battle amid rivalries with Britain and other powers. Rendered in pen and black ink with brush and gray wash, the artwork showcases drafting techniques favored by naval architects. Fine in...
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...