Museum Exhibition
Gothic by Design: The Dawn of Architectural Draftsmanship
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
April 16, 2026 – July 19, 2026
Gothic by Design: The Dawn of Architectural Draftsmanship reveals how master masons and other artists began to visualize and communicate their complex ideas for cathedrals and other architecture-inspired structures in drawings and, later, prints.
Exhibition artworks
Representative work
Unidentified|Lorenz Lechler and Workshop
Design for a Monumental Sacrament House
1502
Pen and two types of ink (carbon black and iron gall) over blind ruling, 17th-century inscription in pen and ink, on parchment
10 ft. 7 in. × 14 3/8 in. (322.6 × 36.5 cm)
View artwork at the museumFeatured works
Wenzel von Olmutz
Elevation of a Gothic Pinnacle with a Hexagonal Plan
1490–99
Engraving
Mat: 39 15/16 x 15 in. (101.5 x 38.1 cm) Sheet: 22 11/16 x 4 3/4 in. (57.6 x 12.1 cm) Sheet: 4 5/16 x 4 3/4 in. (11 x 12.1 cm)
View at museumMaster Mason Stephen Lote|Master Mason Thomas Mapilton
Tracery Arcade from the Great South Window of Canterbury Cathedral
ca. 1426–1435
Caen stone
25 × 49 5/8 × 15 9/16 in. (63.5 × 126 × 39.5 cm) 560 lbs + 165 lb crate (254 kg +75 kg crate)
View at museumFrench
Architectural Drawing
1450–1500
Pen and brown ink over black chalk on vellum
Overall: 17 9/16 x 11 3/4 in. (44.6 x 29.8 cm)
View at museumGerman or South Netherlandish
The Last Supper
ca. 1500–1530
Limestone, traces of polychromy
25 × 15 1/2 × 6 1/2 in., 73 lb. (63.5 × 39.4 × 16.5 cm, 33.1 kg)
View at museumMaster of Saint Augustine
Scenes from the Life of Saint Augustine of Hippo
ca. 1490
Oil, gold, and silver on wood
Framed: 59 7/8 × 64 1/2 × 2 3/4 in., 98 lb. (152.1 × 163.8 × 7 cm, 44.5 kg) 54 1/4 × 59 in. (137.8 × 149.9 cm) Other (greatest thickness): 3/8 in. (1 cm)
View at museumMartin Schongauer
The Censer
1470–1491
Engraving
Mat: 19 1/4 x 14 5/16 in. (48.9 x 36.3 cm) Sheet: 10 11/16 x 8 1/8 in. (27.1 x 20.7 cm)
View at museum13 documented works in this exhibition
View all 13 documented works