Ontwerp voor een deel van een kamerwand c. 1752 - 1819

This is a design for a section of a room wall, made by Jurriaan Andriessen, likely in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is rendered in pencil on paper. The material here—pencil on paper—is crucial. Paper was, and remains, a relatively inexpensive and easily portable surface. Pencil, developed around the 16th century, allowed for quick, precise lines. This combination facilitated the rapid generation of ideas. The design itself shows a wall section divided into panels, a common feature of neoclassical interiors, often executed in wood by skilled joiners and then perhaps painted or gilded. Andriessen, as the designer, would have conceived this division of labor. His sketch visualizes the final product, as well as the labor and materials needed to bring it into being. So, consider this drawing not just as a preliminary idea, but as a record of social relations, of the hierarchies of design and craft that characterized the period.