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Object Timeline

2008

  • We acquired this object.

2012

2013

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2024

  • You found it!

Drawing, Interior View of the Nave, Saint Peter's, Rome, Looking Toward the Altar

This is a Drawing. It was attributed to Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot. It is dated 1748–49 and we acquired it in 2008. Its medium is pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, green, brown watercolor on cream laid paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This drawing is typical of scenes of notable monuments in Rome that were created for the tourist trade in the mid-18th century. Drawings of this kind, presumably after a published print, were usually produced by students or members of an artist’s workshop as preparatory exercises to further their understanding of perspective, proportion, and scale.
This drawing would add to drawings already in the museum’s collection that show other interior views of the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome. As an aid to study for students in the Cooper-Hewitt/Parsons master’s degree program, it will prove to be an invaluable example of the relationship between prints and drawings of architecture and will provide insight on pedagogical training in the 18th century among French students studying in Rome.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled A questionable attribution.

This object was donated by Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation. It is credited Joseph F. McCrindle Collection.

  • Frieze (France)
  • block-printed and stenciled on machine-made paper.
  • Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
  • 1931-45-80

Its dimensions are

(circular): 22.2 x 22.2 cm (8 3/4 x 8 3/4 in.)

It is inscribed

Inscribed in black ink, below image: Vue Interieure de St. Pierre De Rome; in brown ink below: [illegible]

Cite this object as

Drawing, Interior View of the Nave, Saint Peter's, Rome, Looking Toward the Altar; Attributed to Eurimond-Alexandre Petitot (Parma, 1727–1801); Italy; pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, green, brown watercolor on cream laid paper; (circular): 22.2 x 22.2 cm (8 3/4 x 8 3/4 in.); Joseph F. McCrindle Collection; 2008-34-1

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. 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://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18729073/ |title=Drawing, Interior View of the Nave, Saint Peter's, Rome, Looking Toward the Altar |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>