Design for Wall including Chimney and Red Banquette 1800 - 1900

Editor: This drawing, "Design for Wall including Chimney and Red Banquette," comes to us from somewhere between 1800 and 1900. It’s by an anonymous artist and done in watercolor and print. The room seems very formal, almost performative. What stories do you see embedded in this design? Curator: What I immediately notice is the architecture rooted in neoclassicism: the symmetry, the clean lines, the ornamentation inspired by antiquity. This wasn't just about aesthetics; it was a visual statement about power and social order. How might this room design have reflected or reinforced existing social hierarchies? Editor: It seems like a space designed to impress, but maybe also to keep people at a distance? The banquette, while red and plush, still looks pretty rigid. Curator: Exactly. Think about who had access to such spaces and who was excluded. Decorative arts often get dismissed as merely "pretty," but they are powerful indicators of wealth, class, and cultural values. Even the seemingly simple choice of a red banquette—a colour often associated with royalty—speaks volumes about the aspirational ideals of the owner, doesn’t it? Editor: It does. It makes you wonder about the relationship between those who commissioned and lived in spaces like this, and those who built them and maybe were never allowed inside. Curator: Absolutely. We can explore the lives and labour of those whose contributions often go unacknowledged. How do we read this room design as a product of, and a contributor to, broader historical inequalities? Does it glorify power, or simply reflect the tastes of the time? Editor: Thinking about the room as a statement of power definitely adds a new dimension for me. I was focused on the aesthetic but overlooked the underlying social dynamics. Curator: That’s why art history is an ongoing conversation, an interrogation of the past with the concerns of the present. Looking closely unveils so much beyond what meets the eye, helping us critically engage with social power and design.