We seem to have a natural fascination with the way people choose to decorate and furnish their homes,

as is borne out by the multitude of interior magazines that grace the shelves of every newsagent.

This is in part nosiness – to catch a glimpse of a private sanctuary that usually remains behind closed

doors and in part an aesthetic appreciation of interior design, from which personal styles can be

developed or copied. The extent to which this is successful depends on the confidence of the designer

and stylist to create aesthetically appealing interiors, and the ability of the artist or photographer to

express these three-dimensional atmospheric experiences as mere two dimensional images.

This chapter begins with a look at how artists and photographers have chosen to depict interiors, and

concludes with a brief history of interior decoration as useful background knowledge.

Seventeenth century interpretation The artistic interpretation of interiors has a long historical

tradition, perhaps best exemplified by the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century.

The exaggerated realism of the contrast of light and shade in their paintings stimulates in the viewer a

sense of magic, romance and nostalgia.

The oil painting by Pieter de Hooch in Figure 1.1, An Interior, with a Woman Drinking with Two Men

(1658), is a fine example, and his work is described by art historian Mariet  Westermann in The Art of

the Dutch Republic 1585–1718 (1996) in the following way:

De Hooch, and the majority of painters represented in this book share one of the uncanniest realist

strategies: a fine meticulous handling of oil paint that makes the

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Source:

• Professional Interior Photography

• The Internet