Man met hoed zittend onder een boom 1781 - 1822

Editor: Here we have Hermanus Fock's etching, "Man met hoed zittend onder een boom", dating from somewhere between 1781 and 1822. It depicts exactly that: a man in a hat sitting under a tree. The mood feels very contemplative and still to me, even lonely. How do you interpret this work in light of its historical moment? Curator: It's interesting that you find it lonely. I see it as representative of the growing emphasis on individual experience and the natural world during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was a time of great social and political upheaval, wouldn't you agree? The image could reflect the era's anxiety over urbanization, so the solitary figure takes solace from nature and the quietness the tree offers him, don't you think? Editor: I do. I see what you mean about finding solace. How does the fact that it is a print - an etching, to be precise - shape your understanding? Did prints such as this one have a particular social function or role? Curator: That’s key. Etchings like this made art more accessible to a wider public, outside the aristocratic class that usually commissions and views art. Prints democratized art; it's about making art more ubiquitous. This print perhaps points towards a changing dynamic between humans and nature, a burgeoning romanticism available to anyone. Now what can you gather on the printing run and reception of this? Editor: Hmm. Considering this, it changes my mind a little bit about the man seeming "lonely". Perhaps, I see the sitter more pensive as he may just be enjoying the solace offered by nature now easily available to people like him to explore. That makes sense. Thanks! Curator: Exactly! Seeing the political dimensions changes how you view this person under a tree and offers deeper, new connections. Keep considering these socio-political forces and see how artwork connects and intersects with different people.