Bakker met mand met broden 1776 - 1815

Marie Lambertine Coclers made this etching of a baker with a basket of bread sometime around the late 18th century. The image is of a commoner, a woman who sells bread, who is pausing from her labor. Coclars was born in the Netherlands, a place and time that was marked by the rise of a middle class. The Dutch Republic had a tradition of genre painting that focused on everyday life. However, as the art market expanded during the 18th century, art became increasingly academic. Coclers trained at the Düsseldorf Academy, which focused on idealized images. In this context, Coclers' etching could be seen as an attempt to bridge the gap between the traditional Dutch focus on everyday life and the academic interest in idealized forms. Here, there is a tension between an academic approach and a democratic one. A deeper understanding would require archival work on the artist and the institutions in which she worked. It's a reminder that art exists within a set of social and institutional relations.