Gezicht op de Cour Ovale van het Palais de Fontainebleau 18th century

Curator: Ah, yes, "Gezicht op de Cour Ovale van het Palais de Fontainebleau", an 18th-century watercolor held here at the Rijksmuseum. Isn’t it just stunning? Editor: There’s a lightness to it, a sense of openness, that the monumental architecture doesn't quite convey in reality. Like a pleasant dream of court life, maybe. Curator: Indeed! The Rococo sensibility is right there. The composition is very controlled—orderly—even as the figures give it life. I wonder what materials they really used. There's a certain finesse only they had... Do you know what coloured pencils give to this kind of watercolour? Editor: The delicacy of those strokes… it points towards a society that had the leisure to prioritize that level of fine detail. This wasn't mass production, you know, the kind of art available for popular consumption; there's someone sitting at a desk, patiently crafting this. It gives this cityscape a sense of bespoke luxury. What type of commerce and resources did they rely on? Curator: I see what you mean! Though perhaps that makes the artwork too serious, while the life in those figures really calls out to the genre paintings. All the court life you would expect... Carriages, fancy dresses, adorable dogs… Editor: I see your point—the scene does hint at lighthearted activities, even a bit of flirtation and idleness amongst the elite class, yet even those games have been possible due to particular conditions that need resources to have happened in a place like the Palais de Fontainebleau. Do you see what this piece of artwork hints at if you consider the economics of that time? Curator: What this watercolor shares—I think—is that they have become a memory. Both readings. It is what this location now looks like when they’re just in a painting. A time and feeling that has faded. A perfect painting after all! Editor: So true, you’ve convinced me. We’ve traced a whole society now, not only an elite place, from the materials and actions. Let's let it settle like a watercolour in the soul.