Max Rollitt

For the antiques dealer, interior designer and furniture maker, a house is an artwork in itself. He finds inspiration in classical paintings when restoring period homes

When I first started, there was a book by Charles Saumarez Smith called Eighteenth

Century Decoration, which featured paintings of people in their interiors. I was looking at the colours on the walls, but actually what I found myself looking at was the composition, the balance of colour and tone. For me, that was really poignant. There’s so much to be learned from those masterpieces. It’s the nuance that can be given by a splash of yellow or red. I love the simplicity those pictures have, there’s less ornament, less clutter. That clear, clean late-17th century or early Georgian look is very elegant.

On this project, the architecture and flooring of the dining room and the period of the house gave a feeling of age and airiness that reminded me of Vermeer’s interiors. Although the budget didn’t stretch to hanging an Old Master on the wall, I took inspiration from the colours and textures apparent in Vermeer’s The Music Lesson.

The painting is echoed in the simplicity of the space, which is highlighted by richly coloured fabrics, the patina and depth of colour from the polished antique furniture – Irish Chippendale chairs and a George II marble-topped table – and the light falling from the window, which catches in the glass of an antique Second Empire gasolier. It’s about transposing the artwork into something else; the texture of the cloth on the table in the painting has gone into the curtains – Le Manach’s ‘Murillo’ Toiles de Tour, supplied by Pierre Frey. The yellow chair is covered in an antique French linen that we dyed. The walls are painted in ‘Borrowed Light’ by Farrow & Ball – the room wasn’t working until we stuck that up and then it was just ‘wow’. I made the table using 19th-century timber and we sanded the floorboards back and scrubbed them until they had that bleached look. When it comes to taking inspiration from a painting, you’re just seeing what you can learn from it and what you enjoy about it. It’s trying to articulate that and then you can abstract it – once you’ve understood the joy of it. maxrollitt.com

‘I took inspiration from the colours and textures apparent in Vermeer’s “The

Music Lesson”’

The pared-back space was inspired by Vermeer’s interiors. A Second Empire gasolier hangs above a bespoke dining table made by Rollitt from 19th-century timber

Vermeer’s The Music Lesson and Rollitt (below)