Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2022

2025

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Drawing, Study for Plate 2 (nos. 4-6) in "Designs for Various Ornaments"

This is a Drawing. It was created by Michel Angelo Pergolesi.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from The Morgan Library & Museum as part of Mr. Pergolesi's Curious Things.

It is dated 1776–1777. Its medium is pen and brown ink, pen and black ink, graphite, red chalk with three rectangles of paper adhered to laid paper support. red chalk on verso of sheet. drawing lined overall.. It is a part of the department.


To create prints of his watercolor drawings, Pergolesi first made a highly linear print study, such as this one. He then transferred the contours of the monochrome design to a metal plate (the red chalk on the back of this drawing is a remnant of that process), which he etched, inked, and printed. The earliest, relatively simple prints in the series are closest in format to Cooper Hewitt’s watercolors. Over time, the prints became more and more elaborate.

It is credited Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

Its dimensions are

Mat: 58.4 × 45.7 cm (23 × 18 in.) Frame : 64.8 × 52.1 cm (25 1/2 × 20 1/2 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Mr. Pergolesi's Curious Things.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318806807/ |title=Drawing, Study for Plate 2 (nos. 4-6) in "Designs for Various Ornaments" |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>