Painting large landscape wallpapers for mansions, canal houses, and country estates was extremely popular, especially in the 18th century. Many showrooms were adorned with wall-filling Arcadian scenes. It is remarkable that so few of these 'Rooms in the Round' have been preserved. Additionally, much of the knowledge about the creation process has been lost.

When we started painting wallpaper in 2013, we only then became aware of the scale and importance of this Dutch craft. It is fascinating to discover how people back then transformed empty walls into illusionistic landscapes with the right effects. Thousands of rooms had at least one 'Room in the Round.' However, this decorative interior art fell into decline after 1800 due to various reasons. The dismantling of the rooms began in the mid-19th century. The art of the 18th century was considered inferior to the Golden Age, and people grew tired of the delicate wallpapers. The remaining wallpapers that have been preserved in situ are very rare and hardly known to the general public

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The remaining sketches, travelogues, and notes provide only a limited view of this craft and the techniques used. This creates a significant gap in our knowledge and understanding of 17th and 18th-century decorative painters and interior art. How was the wallpaper created? How did a commission proceed? What did a workshop look like? Were stencils or fixed elements used? What was the work process like? Who determined the colors, subjects? What other furnishings were important in the choices made? To what extent did the wallpaper match the existing interior?