Design for a Mausoleum in a Landscape

ca. 1930

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 691

In the mid-nineteenth century, urban Americans dramatically altered their burial practices. In response to overcrowded churchyards and sanitation concerns, burying grounds were increasingly moved outside city limits. Designed as picturesque garden landscapes, these new rural cemeteries provided opportunities for commissions of memorial art, which was often rendered in classical, Gothic, and Egyptian styles. Gothic architecture, with its ecclesiastical origins, was seen as an especially appropriate mode to convey religious sentiment. Set high on a hill against a backdrop of dark cypresses, this watercolor depiction of a Gothic Revival ciborium, or canopy, reflects both the park cemetery and architectural movements of the nineteenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Title: Design for a Mausoleum in a Landscape
Artist: Louis C. Tiffany (American, New York 1848–1933 New York)
Designer: Unidentified designer
Maker: Tiffany Studios (1902–32)
Date: ca. 1930
Geography: Made in New York, United States; Country of Origin United States
Culture: American
Medium: Transparent and opaque watercolor, and graphite on paper mounted on paperboard
Dimensions: 29 9/16 × 21 3/4 in. (75.1 × 55.2 cm)
Credit Line: Purchase, Walter Hoving and Julia T. Weld Gifts and Dodge Fund, 1967
Object Number: 67.654.21
Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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