Twee horizontale cartouches 1657 - 1685

These two horizontal cartouches were etched by an anonymous artist, and today they are preserved in the Rijksmuseum. Prints like this circulated widely in Europe and served a vital function as templates for craftsmen. Ornament was used everywhere, in every medium. These cartouches, we can imagine, would have been copied onto furniture, plasterwork, or metalwork. The grotesque masks, paws and scrolling foliage are typical of the kind of classicizing ornament that spread from Italy across Europe from the 16th century onwards. Ornament of this kind was especially popular in the Dutch Republic. To understand this print better, we might research pattern books and the dissemination of ornament in the early modern period. Only through such investigation can we properly grasp the social function of something that might at first appear merely decorative.