Paper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and Garden

Paper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and Garden

Martin Engelbrecht

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paper theater or diorama, made up out of six sheets representing different planes of the landscape. Together they form a three-dimensional view of a country house in Italian style and gardens with various figures. Windows have been cut into the individual sheets to reveal details of the landscape on different planes. The prints have been hand colored.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and GardenPaper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and GardenPaper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and GardenPaper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and GardenPaper Theater or Diorama of an Italianate Villa and Garden

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.