Staande ezel voor een liggende hond en een slapende man 1815

This delicate drawing was made by Adam von Bartsch in the late 18th or early 19th century using pen and brown ink. It depicts a rustic scene: a donkey standing over a sleeping man and a dog. But what can we learn about the society that produced it? Bartsch was the director of the Imperial Print Collection in Vienna. This was an institution dedicated to preserving and classifying prints, and his role there gave him a unique perspective on the history of art and printmaking. Drawings like this one, though seemingly simple, circulated amongst collectors and connoisseurs who valued the skilled draftsmanship. The image taps into a tradition of pastoral imagery that idealizes rural life, but there is something knowing in the way Bartsch depicts this scene. The sleeping man and the weary donkey might be a subtle commentary on the social realities of labor and leisure. To fully understand the meaning of the drawing, we can look into Bartsch's writings and the inventories of collections from the period. These sources help us understand the cultural values of the time and the role that art played in shaping them.