Interieur met trappartijen en beeldhouwwerken in nissen 1787

This print, titled "Interieur met trappartijen en beeldhouwwerken in nissen," resides in the Rijksmuseum and was made by an anonymous artist. The print depicts an interior space filled with staircases and sculptures, an architectural fantasy rendered with precision. The anonymity of the artist speaks volumes, gesturing towards the often-unrecognized labor that goes into the creation of art and architectural design. The statues stand in niches around the periphery of the space, classical figures whose whiteness may signal a more complex set of ideals around beauty, power, and privilege. This artwork captures a longing for an idealized past while subtly revealing the erasures and exclusions inherent in such grand visions. What does it mean to build monuments to beauty, and who gets to decide what that beauty looks like?