Trap des ouderdoms 1725 - 1738

Editor: This engraving, "Trap des Ouderdoms," dating from 1725 to 1738, is attributed to the widow of Gijsbert de Groot. It is full of figures, all seemingly arranged on stairs or levels of a stage. There is something very theatrical and organised, yet also chaotic, about it. How do you approach something so clearly planned and yet so full of life? Curator: What strikes me is the labour involved in the creation of this print. The etching, the engraving, each line meticulously placed. We have to think about this image not just as a representation of life's stages, but as a *product* of its time. How was this print consumed? By whom? Was it widely distributed, or a more limited, bespoke item? Its value resided not just in the allegory, but also in the skill and effort expended in its making, distributed through the networks of the early print market. Editor: So, you are interested less in the artistic intention behind the piece, and more about the material existence and purpose of the artwork in its original time. Curator: Exactly. Consider the social context, the labor practices of the workshop. Who exactly were these anonymous makers and consumers in this world? And the very notion of a widow continuing a business, suggests a shift in roles determined by social forces more than personal skill or taste. What are the implications when we think about how the image was produced, copied, sold and shared in Amsterdam's burgeoning consumer society? Editor: So the stairs, or trap, also reflect a certain system of making or capitalism back onto the work itself. A kind of layered system. Curator: Precisely! This shifts our focus from individual genius to collaborative effort and from pure aesthetic enjoyment to material conditions and the economics of cultural production in the 18th century. Editor: That completely reframes my understanding. I was initially drawn to its theatrical qualities, but thinking about the labour of production gives the image an entirely new weight. Curator: Indeed. Shifting our perspective to consider materials, modes of production, circulation, use. It all gives added resonance.