Uitleg voor prent 3 en 4 1788 - 1806

This is an excerpt from Friedrich Rottmann’s series of prints, created at the turn of the 19th century. The series offers a satirical view of the art world at that time. The images address the tensions, relationships, and power dynamics within the artistic community. Rottmann pulls at the curtain of a painter's studio, exposing the drama of the art world as one of personal struggles and financial dependence. Through a lens of identity, we might see how class distinctions played out in the social spaces depicted. Gender is notably present, if only by its exclusion. Rottmann’s prints reflect an era when women's participation in the art world was severely limited. "A fool Judas in the inn-house of the painter," it says in the print, "that he really made the portrait of a women's room." These images offer a complex view into the lives of artists, highlighting the challenges they faced while also hinting at the changing social dynamics of the time.