Design for interior 1825 - 1835

Charles de Brocktorff designed this interior using watercolor and graphite. The drapery, a focal point, has long symbolized status and privacy. From ancient Roman villas to the court of Versailles, curtains visually whisper the opulence within. Notice their recurrence, not only as window dressings but, in painted form, as backdrops to portraits in the Renaissance. The semiotic weight of the textile is not just its display of wealth, but its implication of the unseen, a barrier between the exterior and the interior. Think of the Renaissance "Annunciation" scenes where the Virgin Mary stands before a draped canopy. In Brocktorff's scene, they too, suggest a hidden world, inviting a feeling of being both sheltered and observed. This design carries, through its motifs, the echoes of centuries past, speaking to the continuity of human desires for comfort and seclusion.