Trafalgar chintz

John Bury

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This design commemorates the career of English naval hero Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson (1758–1805) with scenes representing his foreign victories and inscriptions, including his famous words, "England expects every man to do his duty," spoken at the Battle of Trafalgar. This is one of two different printed cotton designs in the Museum's collection created after the death of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar (near Cádiz, Spain); the other example shows the death of Nelson and scenes from the funeral. In addition, other items honoring Nelson are represented in the collection, including commemorative medals and Wedgwood cameos. The layout of the design, with various motifs scattered across the surface in a seemingly random manner, is suggestive of copperplate printed narrative cottons, an eighteenth-century style that continued into the nineteenth century. However, this large-scale design was block printed, with the details in blue added by "penciling," that is, painting by hand.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art