Drie karikaturale schetsjes van een man in een cape before 1917

Matthijs Maris made these three quick caricatural sketches of a man in a cape with pencil on paper. Maris was part of the Hague School, a group of Dutch artists active in the second half of the 19th century. They reacted against the dominant Romanticism by depicting everyday scenes. Maris was known for his melancholic paintings. But here, he mocks a man wearing a cape, possibly a dandy. The figure is repeated three times, each time slightly different, but the satire is constant. While Maris and his contemporaries focused on realism, they were not blind to social issues. Caricatures, like these, became a popular form of social commentary, often targeting the bourgeoisie and the elite. These images were often published in newspapers, journals, and books. To fully understand these sketches, it's helpful to research the social and political climate of the Netherlands during Maris's time. Understanding the cultural references and visual codes of the era can illuminate the artist's message. Art historians rely on a variety of resources, including historical texts, biographies, and exhibition catalogs, to provide social context to the art.