Ontwerp voor het menu van een huwelijksfeest 1889

Curator: This drawing by Willem Linnig II, dating back to 1889, is entitled "Ontwerp voor het menu van een huwelijksfeest", or Design for a Wedding Feast Menu. It’s rendered in ink on paper. Editor: Well, that's just lovely, isn't it? There's an airy, almost dreamlike quality to it. So delicate, like it might float right off the page! It gives me a sweet feeling; the air of nostalgia, don't you think? Curator: The drawing style definitely nods to romanticism. The piece employs strong lines and academic artistic conventions which certainly align with art from the 19th century. The overt symbols of romantic art, and even popular culture and its imagery from that era. Editor: I am smitten with this sort of art. Just gorgeous! It does appear romantic, though a little dramatic with those swirling figures on the bottom of the design and ring at the top of it. Is the ring significant, outside of just generally implying 'marriage?' Curator: I think that those cherubs and other figural elements surrounding the cartouche reinforce the symbolism associated with love, family and romantic unions. Linnig may have been pulling directly from classic artwork tropes popular when the work was produced, as well. Editor: Oh yes! You have to respect an artist using a trope so deftly. It feels very celebratory; the blank menu ready to host the details of a memorable meal for a significant day. The mind dances just imagining what delectable treats might have been offered. Is it wrong to crave a slice of wedding cake right now? Curator: Not at all! It seems to me that Linnig would've approved of our impulse! The act of consumption, memory, history, it’s all there isn't it? In terms of how these feasts act as spectacles of power and lineage, I think this design captures it all. Editor: In just looking at it, I do now, too. What a charming memento we've analyzed, all hidden within a modest drawing of ink on paper. Curator: It is quite revealing. In this work, the humble design, something as ephemeral as a wedding menu, takes on grand historical and cultural importance.