Vrouw met waaier 1781 - 1822

Curator: Here we have "Vrouw met waaier," or "Woman with Fan," a drawing completed by Hermanus Fock sometime between 1781 and 1822. It is a pen and ink drawing currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It feels so intimate. Despite the sketch-like quality, there's something compelling about her downcast gaze and the almost secretive gesture with the fan. Is she hiding or observing? Curator: Considering the time, the fan is, first, an instrument of hygiene. However, as culture evolves through new lenses, that device turned into a gesture of flirting and coded signals within the rigid social structures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Editor: Absolutely. The fan itself becomes a powerful symbol. Its presence hints at a narrative beyond what's immediately visible—a hidden language, perhaps a commentary on societal expectations placed on women. Her entire affect seems to express this sense of mystery. Curator: The starkness of the medium –simple pen on paper –really strips away artifice. The work offers the viewer to the person beneath the trappings of social expectations of the time, which favored opulence, complex attire, and idealized physiognomy. Editor: And there is also a sense of freedom in that. It feels less like a formal portrait, more like a stolen moment, offering us an unusually direct, unvarnished, look. She’s not perfectly coiffed or posed; she's caught in thought, framed by those decisive lines. Curator: What I also notice is the context. This sketch seems to be an almost rebellious deviation from typical Dutch Golden Age representation, focusing on individuality rather than idealized perfection or allegorical grandeur. Editor: So the sketch serves not just as a portrait, but also almost as an act of quiet resistance in itself. It captures this woman in the context of a moment, but uses this single individual, through pen and ink, as the agent for some broader questioning of image culture in its day. Curator: Precisely. It really shows how much social history is imbued into something as simple as a pen and ink drawing. Editor: Looking closer I now realize I really respond to the emotional weight that such minimalist lines create. They become far more than the mere edges of a portrait.