Stroper wordt betrapt 1819 - 1836

François Grenier created this print, “Stroper wordt betrapt,” sometime in the first half of the 19th century. In it we see a hunter caught in the act. Prints like these reflect a changing relationship between people and the natural world in the 19th century. The rise of the middle class, and the concurrent rise of leisure time, brought about new forms of recreation, like hunting. But what had once been a necessity for survival was becoming a sport, and with that came new regulations and social attitudes towards poaching. The man’s anxious pose, the way his dog stares off into the distance, they evoke a sense of guilt, or at least of being caught. He embodies the tension between individual freedom and societal rules, between our desires and our responsibilities. It’s a moment of reckoning, isn’t it, when one's actions come under scrutiny?