Pyramid monument for J.B. van Bree
1857 or after
Medium
Pen and brush with gray ink, brush and gray wash, with traces of ruled graphite lines
Dimensions
sheet: 18 1/8 x 11 1/2 in. (46 x 29.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.632.24
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing by G. Fock, titled *Pyramid Monument for J.B. van Bree* and dated 1857 or, captures a neoclassical vision of eternal remembrance. Rendered on a modest sheet measuring 18⅛ × 11½ inches, it depicts a towering pyramid adorned with leafy motifs, evoking ancient Egyptian grandeur reimagined in 19th-century Europe. Such pyramidal forms were popular for funerary monuments during this era, symbolizing stability and the afterlife amid Romantic interests in antiquity and nature. Fock employed precise techniques typical of architectural draftsmen: pen and brush with gray ink for sh...