Design for a Decorated Panel of a Carriage 1700 - 1800

Curator: This drawing, an anonymous “Design for a Decorated Panel of a Carriage,” dates from somewhere in the 18th century. The piece is located here at the Met, and it's executed in ink. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: Well, immediately, I'm struck by how restless it feels. It's a whirlwind of bodies and Baroque ornamentation, all contained within this strange, truncated shape. I wonder about the social implications of such an elaborate carriage. Curator: Oh, that's intriguing! It does give you a sense of movement even though it's a static drawing. The draftsmanship is quite compelling. You can almost hear the music emanating from the central figure with the fiddle, leading a bull. What a world, huh? Editor: Leading the bull where? It feels rife with class tension and excess. Whose comfort is being prioritized here? And what does it mean to literally ride on the backs of animals, as figures relax on that bull’s back in such finery? Curator: I see your point completely. We're obviously dealing with a representation of privilege. And maybe that fiddler is leading us somewhere, but that journey comes at the expense of the very thing he leads. Is that dark cloud looming overhead a threat to them all? Editor: Exactly! The context of Baroque art, especially in relation to the rising merchant classes, becomes vital. The opulent display masks societal inequalities that, frankly, haven’t vanished. The performance of class, displayed so literally in an allegorical animal ride is pretty in your face once you tune into it! Curator: Performance of class is spot on, it's spectacle within a spectacle, and there is something really delicious about finding an enduring reflection in it from so many years removed! It almost looks dreamlike... almost surreal... Editor: Right, like a historical echo chamber, isn’t it? It reminds us to be vigilant, to question who benefits from the stage we're all on, and maybe… maybe that’s part of Baroque’s persisting relevance, if we can extract such questions from its aesthetic splendor.