Schets van een tuin met een vijver en een fontein 1677 - 1755

Elias van Nijmegen made this sketch of a garden with a pond and a fountain in the Netherlands sometime between 1667 and 1755. It captures the aspirations and aesthetics of the Dutch elite during the late Baroque period. This drawing reflects the cultural embrace of formal garden design, popularized by the French court of Louis XIV. It represents an ambition to bring nature under control through geometric forms and symmetrical arrangements. This kind of garden became a status symbol among the wealthy merchant classes of the Netherlands. Nijmegen’s sketch is particularly interesting because of its medium and scale. It provides an intimate glimpse into the planning stages of such grandiose projects. Art historians consult estate records, garden plans, and social chronicles of the period to understand better how these spaces reflected and reinforced social hierarchies. This sketch, after all, invites us to reflect on the politics of leisure and display in 18th-century Dutch society.