the spare room

Medium

Digital

Artist Notes

© 2010 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserved In the 19th century, as supplies grew more readily available and the cost of construction decreased, many people who would not have been able to afford an extra room of any kind now added on or built new homes with a 'spare room'. This room was the place where overnight guests slept; spare rooms were also sometimes used as a storeroom for keepsakes and other objects for which there was no room elsewhere. At first, despite cost reductions, only the well-to-do could afford a room that served no other purpose than a place to house visitors. Gradually, the existence of a spare room became the norm and it was only the very poorest homeowners who didn't have private accommodations for company. Some spare rooms were lavishly outfitted, but this room in a 19th-century farmhouse is one of the 'sparest' spare rooms I've seen. This painting has a noticeably distressed and cracked surface; it appears rustic and classical at the same time.