Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)

Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)

Claude Gillot

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drawing, design for a female costume, 'habit de folie', from the 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies). The drawing depicts a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a long dress with double sleeves made up of pointed leaves, and two layers of pointed leaves on the skirt. She wears a bonnet with two points on the head, high heels, and holds a marotte in her right hand.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)Plate 46: Habit de Folie: a woman in a ballet pose, wearing a bonnet and holding a marotte in her right hand, from 'New designs for costumes' (Nouveaux desseins d'habillements à l'usage des balets operas et comedies)

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.