Study for the Astor Library, New York
This striking design for the Astor Library restates Davis' theme of powerful piers and multistoried "Davisean" windows, while the leaning books in the building's pediment show the architect at his most fanciful. Behind the facade was a large rotunda, a circular reading room, which took its inspiration from the Antique Pantheon, but possibly by way of the Radcliffe Library at Oxford or Thomas Jefferson's invention for the library of the University of Virginia.
Artwork Details
- Title: Study for the Astor Library, New York
- Artist: Alexander Jackson Davis (American, New York 1803–1892 West Orange, New Jersey)
- Date: 1843
- Medium: Watercolor, ink and graphite
- Dimensions: Sheet: 20 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (52.7 x 36.8 cm)
- Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924
- Object Number: 24.66.419
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Alexander Jackson Davis
1835–92
Alexander Jackson Davis
1835–92
Alexander Jackson Davis
1835–92
Alexander Jackson Davis
1838–39
Alexander Jackson Davis
1834
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