Federal House with Lyre-design Fence

Anonymous, American, 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

We are shown a Federal style house with two main stories, tall multi-paned windows, and an attic. The building has a central chimney, pedimented and pilastered doorframe and single-story addition at the back. Located close to the street with a neighboring dwelling seen at left, the house is separated from the street by hedges that alternate with a white lyre-shaped fence. A birdhouse shaped like a Gothic cathedral supported by tall posts stands in the garden at right. On the sidewalk in front, a girl pushes a two wheeled covered doll carriage.

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