Rustend jachtgezelschap in een landschap 1740

Curator: Jacques Philippe Le Bas created this engraving titled “Rustend jachtgezelschap in een landschap," dating back to 1740. Currently, this print resides at the Rijksmuseum. It seems to depict a resting hunting party in a landscape setting. Editor: It has a serene yet staged quality. The light etching feels almost idyllic, but also distant, somehow. It reminds me of watching a play from very far away. Curator: The composition is really interesting. See how Le Bas has created two distinct groups of people. There's the central grouping of the gentry, almost posed like a family portrait, but then lower down is what appears to be, from the context, the lower-class assistants or workers, including their children. Editor: It reveals a certain hierarchy inherent to leisure. This is Baroque art, so class is really baked into every single image and object from that time, isn't it? I keep returning to the children. Why are they there? And the people resting by what seems to be game birds? Curator: It would likely be unthinkable for the ladies or gentlemen to, say, pluck a pheasant. The lower group supports the upper class’s entertainment, so their presence illustrates the lifestyle as well as indicates something about power relations within society at that moment. Editor: Exactly. The children perhaps hint at inherited positions. The engraving, a copy of another painting most likely, preserves this social theater. Curator: Engravings, in particular, helped to widely circulate images, carrying social messages beyond the elites who could afford paintings. Each symbol and gesture then reinforces a certain vision of society and reinforces class differences as inevitable. Editor: Though a restful hunting party seems harmless, these images cemented roles. The dog, the dead birds...everything becomes a sign of dominion. Thank you, Jacques Philippe Le Bas for unintentionally providing insight into 18th-century societal structures. Curator: A rest stop is rarely just a rest stop.