Kirri Cottage for Julia Jackson Davis
Medium
Pen and ink, watercolor, graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 1/16 × 6 15/16 in. (25.5 × 17.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924
Accession Number
24.66.789
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the romantic world of 19th-century American architecture withKirri Cottage for Julia Jackson Davis* (1849), a delicate architectural rendering by Alexander Jackson Davis, pioneering figure in the Picturesque and Gothic Revival movements. Davis, often called the "father of Romantic architecture" in the United States, specialized in idyllic country homes that blended natural landscapes with whimsical, medieval-inspired details. This drawing likely served as a design proposal for cozy cottage retreat, evoking the era's fascination with rural escapism amid rapid industrialization. Craft...
About the Artist
Alexander Jackson Davis · 1803–1892
Alexander Jackson Davis (1803–1892) was a pioneering American architect whose imaginative designs helped define the nation's picturesque country house tradition. Born in New York City on July 24, 1803, Davis received an informal education, studying drawing at the American Academy of the Fine Arts, the New-York Drawing Association, and the antique casts at the National Academy of Design. He apprent...