Recueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimens

Recueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimens

Gilles Paul Cauvet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Throughout his career, the French sculptor and cabinetmaker Gilles Paul Cauvet made designs for both monumental architecture and small, finely crafted objects. Many such ideas have been preserved in drawings. In addition, towards the end of his life a collection of his designs was published under the title Recueil d’ornemens à l’usage des jeunes artistes (Collection of ornament designs for use by young artists).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Recueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimensRecueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimensRecueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimensRecueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimensRecueil d'Ornemens A l'Usage des Jeunes Artistes qui se destinent à la décoration des bâtimens

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.