Vrouw lopend met een kind, van voren 1653

Harmen ter Borch created this evocative drawing of a woman and child sometime in the 17th century. Ter Borch worked during the Dutch Golden Age, a period of immense economic and cultural growth in the Netherlands, but also one marked by rigid social hierarchies and expectations, particularly for women. The image of a woman walking with a child speaks to the primary role assigned to women at the time – that of motherhood and domesticity. The figures are rendered with a stark simplicity. The artist captures the intimate connection between mother and child, and perhaps the woman’s determined gaze suggests the strength required to navigate the societal constraints placed upon her. What does it mean to be both caregiver and an individual in a world that often sees those roles as mutually exclusive? This drawing invites us to consider the complex negotiations of identity and duty that shape women’s lives, then and now.