Man drinkt een glas bier 1882

Gerard Jan Bos created this etching of a man drinking beer, a subject which was common in the Netherlands at the time. The print medium itself is important: etching allowed for relatively cheap reproduction, meaning that this image could circulate widely. What does the image tell us? The man is well-dressed, but he is drinking alone, perhaps in a working-class bar. The choice of subject and medium tell us that Bos was interested in depicting everyday life and in making art accessible to a wider audience. The Rijksmuseum's records and period newspaper archives are just two examples of the kinds of research resources that can help us understand the meaning of this image within its social and institutional context.