Eine Köchin scheuert Geschirr am Fenster 

Pièrre Recco made this drawing of a kitchen maid around the turn of the 19th century, with the location of this work now being the Städel Museum. Domestic labor was a common theme in European art, but this image presents a curious ambivalence. We see a young woman, but the trappings of her work seem almost glamorous: the burnished copper and brass, the ample light, and her neat, almost fashionable appearance. The image thus reflects a broader ambivalence about class and labor in the period after the French Revolution. On the one hand, the painting acknowledges the necessity of domestic work, but on the other, it subtly obscures the social realities of labor. To fully understand the painting's social commentary, one might consult the records of the institutions and artistic conventions of the period. These would help us to assess how it reinforces or subverts the prevailing norms regarding class and representation.