Zes plafonddelen 1763

Curator: It feels immediately calming, a series of subtle geometric gardens floating above. A wash of grey tones. Editor: Exactly, its a design for six ceiling panels by Jean Francois de Neufforge, dating back to 1763. It's an engraving, offering different patterns for Neoclassical interiors. Currently it resides in the Rijksmuseum collection. Curator: Neoclassical makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Look at those repeated motifs. The symmetry is soothing, even meditative. There's something inherently orderly about the age of reason echoed up there on that theoretical ceiling. Editor: The repetition speaks volumes about the desires of the era – order, clarity, a harkening back to classical ideals of beauty and proportion. And I'm intrigued by that panel showing what appear to be stylized portraits – almost coin-like – repeated throughout the design. That panel injects a fascinating note of personality into what otherwise feels very formalized. Curator: Yes! Like a little ego woven into the fabric of the design. Subliminally telling visitors in the house about who lived in that space. Were these mass produced designs, or tailored? One can dream, though perhaps a little TOO loudly. Editor: These were likely intended as templates for artisans and architects to adapt. They represent an aesthetic aspiration more than a bespoke solution. Curator: So, it is like sheet music then, but for your eye? Editor: I appreciate that, although unlike musical notes that lead to sound and harmony, the geometric floral language leads back to a visual harmony and maybe something more abstract than order: eternal elegance. Curator: Elegant death, or an elegant life? Editor: Definitely elegant life; the idea to suspend beauty just above your head every single day is more than hopeful, and possibly sublime! Curator: You know, reflecting on this engraving I feel a longing for that controlled artistry. So measured, so beautiful...It makes you consider all of the interior possibilities we choose to create for ourselves in the home, as humans. Editor: Absolutely. It speaks of enduring visual codes. What patterns and visual systems do we unknowingly create for ourselves in the domestic spheres we frequent?