Plate 8: a group of figures some of whom are playing a game, from the series of customs and pastimes of the Spanish people 1850

Editor: This is "Plate 8: a group of figures some of whom are playing a game, from the series of customs and pastimes of the Spanish people" by Francisco Lameyer y Berenguer, created around 1850. It's an etching, currently at the Met. The scene has this intimate, almost secretive feel to it, due to the way the figures huddle together. What's your take on it? Curator: It's fascinating how Lameyer presents this everyday scene. Consider the rise of costumbrismo in 19th-century Spain – this artistic and literary movement aimed to capture the essence of local customs, traditions, and daily life. The etching style here emphasizes a kind of journalistic realism. Notice how it pulls us into considering ideas around documentation, but at the same time, constructing a romantic image of Spanish identity for the growing middle class. How might its display in museums further shape these ideas? Editor: So it’s not just a neutral depiction, but an active shaping of public perception? What about the specific game they’re playing? Curator: Indeed. We can only speculate about the game without further context, which Lameyer, as a privileged artist, certainly assumes that people already understand. Does its obscurity change our reading of the image? Do we feel distanced from, or perhaps invited into, this specific aspect of Spanish life? How does that emotional and cultural distance itself become part of the artwork's meaning in today's museums? Editor: I hadn't considered how our distance from the subject affects the work itself. Thanks! Curator: And I hadn't fully considered the game as such an emblem. An important thing about historical perspectives is precisely how things change for us over time.