Putto met twee schoenen in zijn handen 1836 - 1912

Isaac Weissenbruch made this drawing, "Putto with two shoes in his hands", using pen and ink, sometime in the 19th century in the Netherlands. The putto, a chubby male child, is derived from classical art and was revived during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, often appearing in secular and religious artworks. Here, the putto is playfully balancing shoes, which is a curious twist on the traditional imagery. The Netherlands in the 19th century saw a burgeoning middle class, and with it, a taste for genre scenes and domestic themes. Perhaps Weissenbruch's putto with shoes reflects a more intimate, playful, and bourgeois interpretation of classical motifs. To fully appreciate Weissenbruch's work, we can look into Dutch social history and the art market of his time, as well as the institutional context in which he was working. The meaning of art shifts depending on the social and institutional context, making the historian's role indispensable.