Twee arabesken met medaillons 1700 - 1800

This is a design for decorative panels, made in the Netherlands by an anonymous artist. The design is made up of scrolling vines and foliage surrounding classical motifs. We can understand this design as a product of its time by considering the status of ornament in European art academies. The image is likely made during a period in which academic theory privileged history painting as the most elevated genre. Ornament, by contrast, was seen as a lesser art, associated with craft rather than fine art. But the image contains elements that upset this rigid hierarchy: the classical figures and scenes indicate the artist's familiarity with the elevated genre of history painting, while the emphasis on decorative embellishment reflects an interest in the supposedly ‘lower’ art of ornament. These visual cues invite the art historian to ask: what happens when traditionally distinct artistic categories begin to blur? By researching the history of European art academies, we can better understand the social forces that influenced the creation and interpretation of such images.