Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1901

  • Work on this object began.

2022

2025

  • You found it!

Letter

This is a Letter. It was written by Giovanni Piancastelli. It is dated January 18, 1901. Its medium is ink on paper. It is a part of the department.

Giovanni Piancastelli was an Italian artist and collector, as well as the first director of the Borghese Gallery in Rome. The sisters purchased more than 3,500 works from him for the museum, representing the first significant group of design drawings to enter an American museum collection. In this letter to Sarah, he describes each lot for sale from his collection of drawings.

It is credited Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 21 × 13.7 cm (8 1/4 × 5 3/8 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Sarah & Eleanor Hewitt: Designing a Modern Museum.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805831/ |title=Letter |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>