De Deugd en de Tempel der Wijsheid 1752 - 1819

Jurriaan Andriessen made this watercolor called 'Virtue and the Temple of Wisdom', but we don't know exactly when. It's an allegory, meaning that it uses symbolic figures to make a moral point. Here, it seems to be about how a virtuous life will lead to wisdom. Allegories were very popular in the Netherlands in the 1700s. This was a time when people were interested in classical antiquity, in ancient Greece and Rome, and the figures are shown wearing classical-style robes. These drawings were proposals for wall decorations, and the Rijksmuseum has quite a few designs by Andriessen. He and his workshop decorated many upper-class houses in Amsterdam. In the 1700s, the decoration of your house was a public display of your status and taste. The classical imagery, with themes like virtue and wisdom, would show that you were an educated and moral person. To understand Andriessen’s position in Dutch society, it helps to research not only his patrons, but also how art academies operated at the time. Examining architectural drawings, household inventories, and other documents helps to contextualize the importance of art as something embedded in social and institutional practices.