This striking drawing, titled Altar Mensa for the Borghese Chapel in the Santa Maria Maggiore, is by a lesser known but influential architect, Mario Asprucci the Younger.  Using water color paint to achieve vibrant illustrations of various, colored marbles and metals, Asprucci captures the architecture’s sumptuous materials and allegorical themes. The Borghese Chapel was originally...

When the founders of the museum at Cooper Union began the wallpaper department they were interested in three main collecting areas: gilded embossed leathers, antique French papers, and American bandboxes. This arabesque design was the first wallpaper acquired for the new collection and was produced by the Jean-Baptiste Réveillon factory, one of the premier wallpaper...