Twee kinderen musiceren met een vrouw 1842 - 1843

Curator: Welcome. Today we are looking at an engraving by Franciscus Bernardus Waanders, made circa 1842-1843. The work is entitled "Twee kinderen musiceren met een vrouw," or, "Two children making music with a woman." It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My, it's charming, isn't it? There's something so intimate about this scene. A woman serenading two children… but there’s a definite melancholy to the piece, like a memory fading. The gray is thick. Curator: Absolutely. The greyscale of the engraving, a product of its medium, certainly contributes to that feeling of nostalgia. Genre paintings, of which this is an example, like to capture a frozen instance. Editor: Do you think she is their mother, perhaps? They are both so drawn to her melody. I wonder what instrument that is that she's playing. Like a lute? I think they are both holding musical instruments as well! And yet it feels, as I mentioned, tinged with sadness somehow. Curator: It appears so. Given Waanders' context as a figure rooted in the Romantic movement, we can imagine his attraction to domestic interiors as a space that allowed a refuge from industrial and sociopolitical disruption and chaos, to celebrate private relationships, familial and romantic ones, as sources of respite and virtue. The musical instrument in the scene looks very similar to a lute. These kind of images help shape the image of the idealized and virtuous middle-class household. Editor: True, there is that safe feeling, and the scene looks so familiar somehow. You put words to a familiar story and context that feels comforting and yet… and yet! There’s something bittersweet here. Thank you. Curator: A pleasure. I appreciate your attention to this delicate interplay between melancholy and harmony.