Design for a Gondola Decorated for a Festive Occassion

Anonymous, Italian, 18th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a gondola, decorated for a festive occassion like an entry parade or a wedding. The boat is decorated with yelllow embroidered draperies with floral garlands and blue tassles. Along the side of the barge are four rocaille ornaments which contain bunches of red flowers (roses?). The front and back of the gondola are decorated by large blue leaf masks from which large plants with red roses sprout.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art