Ontwerp voor een glas in loodraam met putto in een cartouche after 1907

This design for a stained-glass window with putti in a cartouche was made anonymously. It's an exercise in decorative design, breaking up a scene into a tiled composition using ink and watercolour. The off-white ground with pale colour palette suggests the artist saw the potential of a muted surface. The design emphasises a playful approach, where you can see a process of trial and error. The lines aren't precise, and the shapes wobble with a gentle, human touch. Look at how the artist uses soft washes of colour to define the figures and ornamentation, they create depth and volume with subtle gradations. The cartoon putto at the top, framed within a circle of gold, brings a lightness, while the grotesque head at the bottom adds a grounding element. The composition has a similar layout to some designs of the artist Peter Quast, especially in the way he embraces these contrasts. In this piece we see that art is a conversation between ideas across time.