From Ancient Rome to the Modern Drawing Room: Mr. Pergolesi’s Neoclassical Ornament Designs

Very little is known about Michelangelo Pergolesi (d. 1801), an Italian designer, printmaker, and drawing master active in London in the late 18^th century.

Nevertheless, it has often been suggested that Pergolesi, a collaborator of Robert Adam, may be the true author of the Neoclassical ornament so characteristic of the Adam style.

Under his own name, moreover, Pergolesi produced a popular series of ancient-inspired ornament prints, designs for which constitute a largely uncatalogued volume at the Morgan Library & Museum.

This lecture considers the Morgan album together with a group of 70 essentially unknown watercolor drawings by Pergolesi in the collection of Cooper Hewitt; the comparison reveals much about the artist, his antique inspiration, and his surprising working method.