Fireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett House

Fireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett House

John Hewlett

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fireplace wall paneling is from the John Hewlett House on Long Island. It is a rural interpretation of high-style design; the eighteenth-century principles of symmetry and proportion derived from Renaissance architectural theory have not been strictly observed. The arrangement of the fireplace wall is asymmetrical, and the capitals and entablature above the pilasters do not rest on a horizontal support and thus appear to be suspended over the fireplace. The blue of the woodwork is based on traces of original paint.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett HouseFireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett HouseFireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett HouseFireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett HouseFireplace wall paneling from the John Hewlett House

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.