Doorway from the Isaac Gillet House, Painesville, Ohio (1821): Art, History and Details

Doorway from the Isaac Gillet House, Painesville, Ohio (1821) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jonathan Goldsmith (American, 1783–1847); Lewis Firm (American).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This elaborate doorway originally came from a house designed and built by Jonathan Goldsmith, one of the most celebrated early architects of Northeastern Ohio. Goldsmith, who was born in Connecticut and trained in Massachusetts, came to the area around 1802 and brought with him a knowledge of the prevailing classical styles in architecture and decoration. This doorway formed the most decorative element of the front of the Isaac Gillet House and features elements of both Greek (boldly carved acanthus leaves and swags) and Roman (tall, thin columns and flat window tracery) architecture.

Object facts

• Title: Doorway from the Isaac Gillet House, Painesville, Ohio
• Date: 1821
• Creator attribution: Jonathan Goldsmith (American, 1783–1847); Lewis Firm (American)
• Culture: America
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: wood, leaded panes, and brass decoration
• Dimensions: Overall: 290 x 228.5 x 45.8 cm (114 3/16 x 89 15/16 x 18 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1959.342

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” February 21, 1961, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.