Zes ontwerpen voor een decoratiewand c. 1752 - 1819

This drawing by Jurriaan Andriessen presents six designs for a decorative wall, rendered in ink and watercolor. Notice the repeated use of classical motifs: statues in niches, urns, columns and geometric patterns, all symbols of order, reason, and the enduring legacy of antiquity. These classical elements evoke the art of ancient Greece and Rome, reappearing across centuries in different artworks, each time carrying echoes of their original significance. The statue in the niche, a motif present in many designs here, can be traced back to ancient Roman domestic shrines, or lararium, spaces where household gods were venerated. This gesture of placing figures in niches can also be found in medieval reliquaries, where holy figures were displayed. The recurrence of these classical motifs speaks to our collective memory, a deep-seated longing for the perceived harmony and balance of the ancient world, a psychoanalytic return to an idealised past. These symbols resurface, evolving and adapting, but always retaining a connection to their origins, reminding us of the cyclical nature of cultural memory.