Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"

Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"

Michelangelo Pergolesi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This design, numbered CCCLXXII, represents acanthus, birds and insects. The print comes from a group that Pergolesi made and published serially in London between 1777 and 1792. There is no title page, but a prospectus of ca. 1786 described the group as: "A great variety of original designs of vases, figures, medallions, friezes, pilasters, panels and other ornaments, in the Etruscan and grotesque style." The complete set contains 67 plates numbered 1-66 (two are numbered 56), with designs within the plates irregularly numbered 1-435 (in Roman numerals at first, then with Arabic numbers). In 1801, after Pergolesi's death, four additional plates of designs were published by a bookseller Dulouchamp (or Dulonchamp).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"Acanthus Leaves, Birds and Insects, no. CCCLXXII, plate 57 from "Designs for Various Ornaments"

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.