Design for Brougham, no. 989
Medium
Pen and black ink, watercolor and gouache
Dimensions
6 1/4 x 9 1/4 in. (15.9 x 23.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William Brewster, 1923
Accession Number
23.112.1410
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate design drawing captures a brougham carriage, a compact and elegant four-wheeled vehicle popular in the mid-nineteenth century for urban travel. Created by the renowned New York firm Brewster & Co. in collaboration with designer Channing Britton between 1850 and 1870, the work served as a presentation or workshop model, numbered 989, to guide craftsmen in building a custom vehicle. Such designs highlight the bespoke nature of carriage-making during an era when personal transport was both a practical necessity and a statement of status. Executed in pen and black ink with watercolo...
About the Artist
Brewster & Co.|Channing Britton
**Brewster & Co.** Brewster & Company, a premier American coachbuilder renowned for its exquisite carriage designs, was established in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut, by James Brewster (1788–1866). Born in 1788, Brewster trained as a wagonmaker's apprentice starting at age 16 in Northampton, Massachusetts, before relocating to New Haven, where he set up his workshop and quickly gained acclaim for...