Poetsende vrouw 1782 - 1837

Pieter Barbiers made this drawing, Poetsende vrouw, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. In the image, we see a woman on her knees, scrubbing. While seemingly a simple domestic scene, it is in fact revealing of the social and economic structures of the time. During the Dutch Golden Age, the rise of a wealthy merchant class created a demand for genre scenes depicting everyday life. These images often served to reinforce social norms and values. The artist's decision to depict a working-class woman engaged in manual labor speaks to the prevailing social hierarchies and gender roles of the period. To understand this drawing fully, we can turn to sources, such as period household accounts, conduct manuals, and sociological studies of the working class, which shed light on the realities of life for women. Art history helps us decode the ways in which cultural values are embedded in visual representation.