Anton Mauve made this drawing of a seated woman with a cap, using graphite, in the Netherlands. Mauve, like many of his contemporaries, was interested in depicting the lives of ordinary people. The woman’s simple clothing and head covering suggest she belongs to the working class, her head bent in quiet contemplation. The Netherlands in the late 19th century was a society marked by distinct social classes, each with its own customs and expectations. Artists like Mauve often focused on the lives of those outside the wealthy elite, perhaps as a form of social commentary or simply out of a desire to capture a broader picture of Dutch society. To fully understand this drawing, we might look to sources from the period: photographs, literature, and social histories that reveal the daily lives of working-class women. Art is always a product of its time, shaped by the society that creates it.