An exhibition composed of watercolors illustrating more than sixty nineteenth-century interiors, from cottages to palaces. Just as proud owners today might wish to preserve the appearance of their homes on film, polaroid, or video, the householders of the last century frequently engaged artists to record their dwellings. The works in the exhibition were chosen from two private collections — one American, the other European — which together provided a unique survey of this very special genre of nineteenth-century art. The American collection illustrated the history of interiors, with examples spanning the entire period when the taste for such drawings flourished. The other collection of watercolors came from an album compiled for the Wittgenstein family. It offered the rare opportunity to observe one princely family's taste within approximately a decade of nomadic annual travel from country to country and house to house.
Detail of catalogue cover.