Elevation of Fireplace Wall in an Elizabethan Revival Room

John Dibblee Crace

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Dibblee Crace was born into a long line of interior decorators. His ancestors Edward and Frederic Crace (British, 1725-1799; 1779-1825) had been responsible for the decoration of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton for King George III. His own father, John Gregory Crace (1809-1889), continued their family business and had also been partner to Augustus W.N. Pugin (British, London 1812-1852 Ramsgate). By the time John became an architect, historic period styles were in high demand and John catered to that market with great success, designing some of the most celebrated period rooms in Great Britain. At the height of the Crace firm’s activity in the 1870s, they employed over a 100 regular employees. In the last quarter of the century success waned however and John Dibblee Crace closed the firm in 1899.

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