Venster met gordijnen c. 1885 - 1895

This drawing was made by Léon Laroche with watercolor and pencil. It features a window with elaborate draping, illustrating the height of interior decoration. The design likely represents high-end textiles, fashioned by skilled labor, to evoke luxury and status. The soft rendering of the watercolors gives a sense of the fabric’s texture. Consider the cultural significance of textiles; here we see it used as a signal of social class. Such elaborate window treatments would have been available only to the wealthy, produced by specialized workshops. The drawing itself might have functioned as a sample, to be presented to prospective clients. So it’s not just the curtains themselves, but the whole system of design and manufacture, that this image puts on display. It reminds us of the complex relationship between art, craft, and commerce, and the skilled labor involved in production.