Lyndhurst for George Merritt, Tarrytown, New York (west [rear] elevation and plan)

Alexander Jackson Davis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1864, Davis was commissioned by George Merritt to enlarge Knoll, the house he had built for the Paulding family between 1838 and 1842. In essence, he created a new house, the greatest house in the late Gothic Revival style still standing. Dramatically massed, it sits majestically upon a knoll, surrounded by many acres of Downingesque landscape, one of the few reminders of the glory of the preindustrial Hudson River valley. Lyndhurst is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is open to the public.

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.