Laundress at an Artesian Well 1817

Curator: Before us we have Johann Christoph Erhard's "Laundress at an Artesian Well," an etching from 1817, now residing at the Metropolitan Museum. What strikes you immediately? Editor: A sense of rustic, almost melancholic, simplicity. The details are incredible in such a small scale, but everything has this weight of everyday life to it. Curator: It captures a Romantic ideal, certainly, but also engages with a rapidly changing social landscape. We see these genre scenes romanticized even as the lives of the working class were often extremely difficult. Editor: That artesian well, though, is more than just a well. Water has always been associated with purification, cleansing, a source of life. These women aren't just cleaning laundry; it's almost a ritual. Curator: Indeed, Erhard is playing with longstanding visual tropes. The laundering activity connects to ideas of cleanliness, and social order that are really quite complex in a period when such a high proportion of the population lacked basic hygiene. Editor: Look at the church steeple in the background. A cross atop an orb—a clear symbol of Christendom dominating the terrestrial world, juxtaposed against these earthy, working women. Curator: It does lend a certain irony. Erhard, working in a period of enormous social upheaval after the Napoleonic Wars, depicts the quietude of labor while hinting at a subtle tension. The artwork was of course commissioned, thus there is always that tension. Editor: Commissioned pieces can certainly highlight a social ideology, and one of social importance! Even in its seeming innocence, this artwork subtly layers visual signifiers for us to interpret. Curator: I agree! It is one of the pieces of the puzzle of social movements, iconography, romanticism, and printmaking. The scale, the figures... it offers us many historical readings that connect on many levels. Editor: I hadn't thought about art in quite the same way previously, but now I'm drawn in even more! Curator: Excellent! Hopefully our listeners feel the same way.