Ontwerp voor kamerversiering met twee panelen, een met een ruit in geel en een met een krans van rozen in een ruit 1767 - 1823

Abraham Meertens created this design for room decoration with watercolor and pencil sometime between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He rendered a matching pair of panels; one with a yellow diamond set against a purple background, adorned with sprigs of flowers, and the other with a diamond-shaped wreath of roses. The use of watercolor here gives a light, airy quality, quite different from the heavy formality of oil paint. Meertens was clearly attuned to the architectural trends of his time, when interiors were becoming ever more elaborate and decorative. The symmetry and the pastel colors contribute to a feeling of refined elegance. It's worth remembering that these designs were not just aesthetic exercises, but also practical instructions for skilled artisans. The execution of such ornate interiors would have been a collaborative effort involving many hands, from plasterers and woodworkers to painters and gilders. By considering the labor and expertise required to bring designs like these to life, we can appreciate the social and economic context in which they were created.