Zijgevel van Felix Meritis te Amsterdam 1789 - 1799

This is Noach van der (II) Meer’s drawing of the side elevation of Felix Meritis in Amsterdam. Meer created this architectural drawing using pen and gray ink, sometime between 1741 and 1822, the year of his death. Felix Meritis, built in the late 18th century, was conceived during the Enlightenment as a center for arts and sciences. It embodied the era's optimism for reason and progress. The building's design, captured by Meer, reflects the Enlightenment's values of order, clarity, and rationality. Architectural drawings like this were crucial for disseminating knowledge and planning urban development. They represent the ambition to shape society through reasoned design. The drawing's precision speaks to the societal value placed on scientific accuracy and architectural planning during this period. It's a vision of progress, literally drafted onto paper, during a time of immense social and intellectual change.