Fragmentary Sketches of Various Ornament 1698 - 1765

Giovanni Battista Natali III made this graphite sketch of ornamental designs on a sheet of paper, sometime in the 18th century. As a drawing, this work gives us an insight into the design process of the period. In Italy at this time, the Baroque style was slowly giving way to the more restrained Rococo and Neoclassical styles. Ornament was hugely important in these artistic movements, and a sketch like this would have been an essential part of the process of creating harmonious and visually stunning interiors. Natali's drawing presents a variety of ornamental motifs that could be applied to furniture, architecture, or other decorative arts. These sketches reflect the demands of elite patrons for elaborate designs that showed off their wealth and status. They were part of a larger visual culture that reinforced social hierarchies, with the most elaborate and expensive designs reserved for the most powerful members of society. Looking at archives of decorative schemes, architectural plans, and surviving examples of the decorative arts can teach us more about the society that produced this drawing.