Vrouw bij een tombe 1922

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this etching, "Woman at a Tomb," sometime in the early 20th century. The scene depicts a woman kneeling in mourning before what appears to be a gravesite as people stand along the horizon at sunset. Images of grief were very popular during this period, and the etching process allowed for mass production of an image that could be widely distributed. This speaks to the democratization of art that occurred at this time. The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum dedicated to art and history in Amsterdam. We know that the museum purchased this artwork in 1931. I wonder about the history of the work before this time, and who owned it previously. As a social historian, I consider how the social conditions shaped the making of this work. If we were to do more research, we could look into archival sources to understand more about the artist's intention and the reception of this work.