Design for a Theatre

Anonymous, French, 18th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Theater design was a popular subject for architectural competitions during the eighteenth century. As a result, many extant architectural drawings of theaters do not represent realized building projects but rather are exercises or conceptual designs. Despite their conceptual nature, the designs have often still been worked out with a great level of detail. This drawing, for example, is part of a group of three detailing the floorplan, facade, side elevation, and various sections of a building that, as of yet, has not been connected to an existing performance venue in France.

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