En kjældermand 1845

Peter Gemzøe made this print, called *En kjældermand*, which translates as ‘A Basement Man’, around 1845. The image depicts an old man in a basement looking out of a window. The basement setting and the old man's proximity to the child and dog draw our attention to social class. The image invites viewers to consider the conditions of urban life in Denmark at that time. The crumbling brickwork and small space suggest that the basement man and the child might be living in poverty. This would have been a particularly potent message in the wake of the 1848 revolutions across Europe. Historians of art have access to a range of resources for understanding the social and cultural context of prints like this. Census records, newspaper archives, and museum collections can all tell us more about the place of art within society.