Vrouw, knielend voor een oudere vrouw, heft haar arm op naar een man 1751 - 1816

Reinier Vinkeles created this print of a domestic scene using etching and engraving. The interior setting and the figures’ dress and hairstyles place this image in the late 18th century. A woman kneels before an older woman, reaching out to a man who is either entering or trying to leave the room. The figures’ clothing suggests that they are members of the middle or upper class. Such prints were often made to illustrate popular novels or plays, and to be sold to a growing middle-class public that enjoyed seeing its own domestic life depicted in art. Prints like this one are not simply reflections of social life. They also helped shape social values. The figures represented in the image are meant to embody certain virtues or vices, and viewers are meant to learn from them. The question for the historian is to discover what kinds of values are being promoted, and how these values reflect the social and political concerns of the time. Art historical research, alongside a study of the literature of the period, would help us to more fully understand this image.