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Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

238 works

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Pen and brown ink sketch of a row of classical columns, sphinxes, an obelisk and a domed pavilion on a terrace.

Design for a Table Centerpiece

Giuseppe Barberi, 1790

Pen and ink design for a frieze with a blank oval cartouche, seated woman, putto, garlands and scrollwork.

Design for Frieze Decoration, with Alternative Suggestions

Mauro Antonio Tesi

Oil sketch of a large iceberg with smaller ice masses on dark sea under a pink evening sky.

Iceberg Against the Evening Sky, Canada

Frederic Edwin Church, 1850

Pen and grey wash drawing of an ornate altar design with columns, sculpted figures, a relief panel and a winged angel statue.

Design for an Altar

Filippo Marchionni, 1800

Pen and brown wash drawing of a candelabrum on a column, supported by two winged sphinx figures on pedestals.

Design for Arabesque in Candelabra Form, Probably for the Red Room in the Palazzo Altieri, Rome

Giuseppe Barberi, 1780

Small painting of two pale icebergs rising above dark choppy sea under a warm tan sky.

Two Icebergs, Canada

Frederic Edwin Church, 1850

Pen and grey wash drawing of two architectural window cases with pediments, garlands, and a carved mask.

Two Window Cases

Filippo Marchionni, 1800

Pencil sketch of two schooners and small dories on calm water, with soft reflections on a tan sheet.

Two Schooners and Dories

Winslow Homer, 1880

Faint pencil sketch of low rolling hills receding under an empty sky on tan paper.

Clouds

Frederic Edwin Church, 1840

Pen and ink architectural drawing of an altar mensa with a central wreath, lion-head brackets, and flanking pilasters.

Design for an Altar Mensa

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1760

Tall ornamental panel with turquoise ground, white garlands, urns, figures and a central medallion in neoclassical style.

Panel of Arabesques for the Hôtel de Salm, Paris

Jean Guillaume Moitte, 1780

Loose painting of a white house with dark roof among palms and trees under a pink and orange sunset over hills.

A Country Estate, Jamaica

Frederic Edwin Church, 1860

Vertical watercolor pilaster design with scrolling foliage, floral garlands, and a female head in an oval medallion.

Painting Decoration of a Pilaster Strip

Giacomo Casa, 1850

Pen and wash architectural drawing of a tiered fountain in an arched niche with a papal coat of arms and two busts.

Design for a Fountain in the Garden of the Palazzo Quirinale, Rome, Italy

Ferdinando Fuga, 1740

Pen and ink drawing of an ornate catafalque elevation with paired columns, carved figures, and a winged trumpeter atop.

Elevation of a Catafalque for a General

Mauro Antonio Tesi

Sepia ink and wash elevation drawing of a symmetrical classical palace with a columned central portico and sculpted pediment.

Elevation of a Palace

Giuseppe Barberi, 1790

Horizontal watercolor study of draped figures in a procession near classical columns, with a kneeling woman in the foreground

Study for a Procession, “Vintage Festival,” Mendelssohn Glee Club, New York, NY

Robert Frederick Blum, 1890

Pencil sketch of a narrow alpine lake flanked by steep mountains with snowy peaks in the distance.

View of the Königssee, Bavaria (Germany), Part One

Frederic Edwin Church, 1860

Pen and ink elevation of a domed mausoleum flanked by two pyramids and a colonnade, drawn on pale paper.

Elevation of a Mausoleum

Giuseppe Barberi, 1800

Brown ink drawing of a tall decorative panel with a winged female figure, draped fabric, cornucopia and scrolled ornament.

Design for a Painted Panel

Étienne de Lavallée-Poussin, 1770

Loose painted sketch of autumn-toned rolling hills in reddish and ochre hues under a pale sky, with grass in the foreground.

The Catskill Mountains in Autumn, Hudson, New York

Frederic Edwin Church, 1880

Brown ink and wash design for a vertical decorative panel with a classical statue, scrolls, foliage and a temple facade.

Design for the Decoration of a Panel

Giuseppe Barberi, 1800

Pen and wash design drawing of a three-armed candelabrum with floral motifs, an urn with figures, and a plan view below.

Design for a Candelabrum

Jean-Louis Prieur the Younger, 1780

Etching of two goats perched among curling vines, leaves and berries, forming a vertical grotesque ornament border.

Plate, from the series Ornamenti o grottesche (Ornaments or Grotesques)

Stefano Della Bella, 1610

Engraved panoramic view of a riverside town with houses, steep hills, mountains, trees and small figures in the foreground.

Panoramic View of the City of Ems, Germany

Johann Hürlimann, 1830

Engraved frieze of sea nymphs, a piping satyr, putti and a sea dragon in fine line hatching.

Ornamental Frieze with Sea Nymphs

Michiel le Blon, 1630

Engraved decorative border of putti riding sea monsters and dolphins over rippling waves.

Decorative Panel: Sea Monsters

Flemish Theodor de Bry, 1540

Etched decorative frieze with two lions and a putto among acanthus scrolls, with a printed Paris publisher inscription below.

Frieze

Jean Le Pautre, 1660

Engraved plan and elevation of the Chigi Chapel with domed ceiling, arched altarpiece, sculptures and a scale bar.

Plan and Elevation for the Chigi Chapel at the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo

Woodblock print of a kabuki actor holding a long staff, wearing a black robe over a green and cream patterned costume.

Omezo Ichikawa in the role of Kajiwara Genta

Utagawa Toyokuni, 1810