A Woman Standing at an Open Sash Window, a Small Boy Beside Her

A young woman and a boy stand before an open window on what seems to be a sunny day. Dressed in eighteenth-century fashion, their physical appearance is highly stylized – a typical feature of the art of the time.

Anthonie Andriessen was the lesser known brother of the eighteenth-century Dutch artist Jurriaan Andriessen (1742–1819). Both were active as painters of wallpaper, at a time when many a Dutch town house was decorated wall-hangings, showing lavish arcadian landscapes. It comes as no surprise that the majority of Andriessen’s oeuvre consists of views of forests and meadows. The present sheet, however, belongs to a small group of figure studies that he made.

Andriessen’s nephew, Christiaan (1775–1848), himself an amateur draftsman, produced similar drawings of scenes of every-day life. Christiaan famously illustrated his diary with humorous sketches of recent events and anecdotes. Whether the uncle inspired his nephew or vice versa has yet to be determined.