Stoel, kandelaar en kan 1817

Curator: The stark simplicity is the first thing that strikes me—a sense of planned elegance. Editor: Indeed. This ink and pen drawing, aptly titled "Stoel, kandelaar en kan"—translated to "Chair, candlestick, and can"—is a work by Pietro Ruga, dating back to 1817. Curator: There's an almost dreamlike quality to the rendering, the lines are fine and precise, but the overall impression is one of ethereal lightness, doesn’t reflect the French Neoclassical style, how these pieces are ornamented, full of symbols derived from classical antiquity. Editor: The dreamlike quality may stem from its nature as a sketch, possibly a design proposal, where clarity of vision trumps lived-in reality. We see these objects rendered according to Neoclassical principles— the symmetry, the clear lines. The visual vocabulary speaks of status, of the social order of the time when household objects mirrored values around governance, and civics. Curator: The chair itself, festooned with classical motifs. I can imagine wealthy people seated there, but even the candlestick, featuring what appear to be figures. Everything feels weighted with cultural memory and aspiration. How does the candlestick allude to female representation for you? Editor: It is almost as though each object is meant to convey its own lesson, to participate in some social act. In the depiction of the chair, figures act like trophies; do they hold some clue to the commissioner’s family? It shows not just a sketch but of course values from that time, you understand it by looking at objects as symbols of taste and design! Curator: The symbols work in combination to suggest both the grandeur and the underlying ideas these patrons hope to attach themselves to. It reminds us that these objects were part of carefully constructed self-presentation! Editor: Exactly. We see art in its function in those old times. This little drawing contains so much, not just the objects themselves, but hints of lives, values and aspirations, if one chooses to perceive it. Curator: And like all symbols, it encourages reflection!