Koppen en honden 1840 - 1880

Johannes Tavenraat made this drawing titled 'Heads and dogs' in the Netherlands in the 19th century. The arrangement of the figures gives the impression of a casual page of sketches but it may have been intended as a study of social types. The drawing depicts the heads of two men, one woman and two dogs. The loose style suggests these were made from life, capturing the character of the models. At the time, the Dutch art world was dominated by genre painting and landscape, genres that were becoming increasingly accessible to middle-class consumers, and this drawing appears to fit within that growing commercial context. To understand the art of this time, one needs to go beyond the biography of the artist and consider a broad range of historical, economic and social factors. Researching exhibition records, art criticism and the history of collecting can all shed light on the meaning of works like this within their particular context.