Interior Ornamented Wall with Doors and Fireplace, nos. 344–350, plate 52 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"
March 20, 1785
Medium
Etching; printed in dark brown ink, and watercolor
Dimensions
Plate: 18 1/2 × 10 3/8 in. (47 × 26.3 cm) Sheet: 20 3/8 × 13 7/16 in. (51.8 × 34.2 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Herbert Mitchell, 2008
Accession Number
2018.839.36
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of 18th-century interior design with *Interior Ornamented Wall Doors and Fireplace, nos 344–350*, 52 from Michelangelo Pergolesi's *Designs for Various Or*. Published on March 20, 1785, this etching captures the neoclassical fervor of the era, when British architects and decorators eagerly revived ancient Roman and Pompeian motifs amid the Enlightenment's taste for symmetry and grandeur. Pergolesi, an artist who flourished in London, created these pattern books as invaluable resources for craftsmen, offering precise templates for lavish home interiors. Printed in d...
About the Artist
Michelangelo Pergolesi · 1760–1801
Michelangelo Pergolesi (1760–1801) was an Italian decorative artist, draughtsman, engraver, and designer whose career bridged Rome and London, profoundly influencing neoclassical interiors during the late 18th century. Little is known of his early life or formal training, with biographical details sparsely documented. Likely inspired by classical antiquity and the era's archaeological fervor, incl...