Mannen, vrouwen en kinderen 1836 - 1912

Isaac Weissenbruch made this pencil drawing called ‘Men, Women and Children’ sometime in the nineteenth century. It’s a sketch, really, so it’s hard to know what purpose it served for the artist. But this image of a diverse group of people, some in military dress, gives a sense of the social fabric of the Netherlands in that period. The Netherlands in the nineteenth century was experiencing considerable social change. After being under French rule for some time, it became the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. Weissenbruch was a part of the Hague School, a group of artists united by their shared vision of Dutch landscape and everyday life. They often worked ‘en plein air’, a practice that involved painting outdoors to directly capture the effects of light and atmosphere. The drawing depicts a snapshot of Dutch society, possibly a scene Weissenbruch encountered in his daily life. As historians, we can look into archives, newspapers, and other documents of the period to learn more about the social dynamics and political events that might have informed Weissenbruch's artistic vision.