Design for a Crest with Drapery and Two Putti 1700 - 1780

Editor: This is "Design for a Crest with Drapery and Two Putti," dating from around 1700 to 1780. It's an anonymous ink drawing over graphite. It’s so decorative; it looks like something you'd find carved in plaster above a doorway. What's your read on this? Curator: You know, looking at this sketch, I’m transported! Imagine this blown up, a three-dimensional flourish framing, say, a portrait of some powdered-wig worthy dignitary. I love the implied drama – that heavy, almost theatrical drape! And then these chubby, playful putti flitting around. Do you see how their exuberance is in direct contrast with the rather stiff formality of the crest design? It's as though the artist is hinting at the mischievous energy barely contained beneath the surface of all that pomp and circumstance. Editor: Absolutely. The putti definitely add a sense of life. It feels less rigid with them included, almost like they're rebelling. Were crests like this actually made or was this more aspirational? Curator: Ah, that's the beauty of drawings like these. It's entirely possible this never made it off the page, remaining a delicious fantasy of Baroque opulence. The real power is in the artist’s imagining, in bringing to life this explosion of curves, cherubs and grandeur, which may have ultimately just been a dream. Do you see how it makes you think about space? It feels sculptural and dynamic, even in two dimensions. Editor: I do now. I originally thought it was very static. Curator: Sometimes, the best journeys happen in the stillness of a drawing, don't they? Editor: Definitely gave me something new to consider. Thanks!