Alternate Panel Designs with Urn and Putto 1600 - 1700

This is a drawing showing alternate panel designs with urn and putto, made by an anonymous artist. The urn and putto motifs would have been familiar from classical art, their use here suggests that this drawing may be from the time of the Neoclassical revival, sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s, probably in France or Italy, when interior design often featured such Greco-Roman themes. Architectural drawings like this are not always produced by well-known artists, rather, they can be the work of designers working within institutions, such as interior design firms, architecture practices, or even furniture making workshops. These workshops developed unique styles but remained unnamed. What's interesting is to look at how artists and designers working in these firms borrowed and re-circulated imagery that was already available from earlier periods. Art historians can study pattern books and other drawings like this one to discover more about workshop practices and to understand the way that classical imagery was used in the creation of modern designs.