Interior of a Kitchen

Drolling signed and dated this lower left, 1815, the year of Waterloo, when Napoleon fell for good and Louis XVIII came back to the French throne. Nothing of that reaches this kitchen. The room is dark, lit from one open window that looks out onto trees. A woman sits sewing in the light by the window, another in a bonnet sits on the right, and a child plays on the floor, while copper pans hang along the wall. The arrangement, a quiet room with daylight falling in from the side, follows the Dutch interiors of the 17th century that French collectors of the time prized. Two years later it was Louis XVIII who bought the picture for the royal collection. In recent decades it has travelled widely on loan, to Tokyo, Kyoto, Budapest and Warsaw among other cities.