Design for a Panel with a Large Bundle of Flowers and Leaves and a Hanging Thin Bundle Containing Gardening Tools Inside an Ornamental Frame Decorated with Thin Garlands of Flowers and Leaves

Rectangular sheet of paper with a design for a panel from the second half of the nineteenth century, forming part of the Classical and Renaissance Revival that took place from about 1850, where the interest on the art and architecture from Ancient Rome and the 15th and 16th centuries was propelled by archaeological discoveries in Greece, Italy and Egypt. Through this style, Classical and Renaissance pieces of art and design were reinterpreted in a variety of forms and motifs, and classical figures, scrolling decorations, strapwork, and grotesques and moresques, became central element in design. This Revival was characterized by the use of design motifs that alluded to Classical Antiquity, including vases and trophies with pastoral attributes, classical figures and cameos, a mixture of real and fantastic figures, and swags and festoons. These swags and festoons comprised garlands of fabric and ribbon, as well as thin bundles and garlands of flowers and husks colored with pastels. The scale of this design is clearly not true to life and it is not unlikely that this drawing was made for a sample book of an upholsterer, to be shown to the customer as one of many different styles to choose from.
This design is made up of a large bundle of flowers and leaves that rests on an ornamental motif with acanthus leaves that flanks an ornamental frame, decorated with thin garlands of flowers and leaves, and adorned by a festoon on the upper middle, from where a smaller bundle of leaves and flowers decorated with gardening tools hangs. The large bundle contains a variety of stylized flowers that include roses and daisies, rendered with pastel shades of pink, yellor, orange, carmine, and purple. The flowers in the garlands are colored with shades of pink and purple. The smaller bundle has a few small flowers colored with carmine and pink, and contains a bundle of straw, a watering can and a shovel, as well as a decorative crown of flowers in it. The ribbon from which it hangs is colored in a pastel shade of purplish-blue; the acanthus leaves in the frame are colored with shades of pink and purple. The leaves are rendered with shades of green. The background inside the frame is of cream color; it is of aquamarine color, bodered with gray, outside the frame.