Dokter voelt polsslag van zieke vrouw in slaapvertrek 1776 - 1819

Curator: Right, let's delve into this engraving from the Rijksmuseum's collection. It's titled "Dokter voelt polsslag van zieke vrouw in slaapvertrek" or "Doctor feeling the pulse of a sick woman in the sickroom," dating sometime between 1776 and 1819, attributed to Johannes Christiaan Bendorp. Editor: Immediately, there's a certain stillness, even gravity. Despite the intricate details typical of engravings, a kind of melancholy emanates from it. What is your read? Curator: Well, Bendorp has captured a classic scene here: the physician's visit, a genre piece rendered in detailed black and white lines. Look at the staging, with the doctor checking the pulse as a concerned woman looks on, while a third woman and a dog in the shadows. It’s practically theatrical. Editor: Yes, it feels posed. The linear perspective funnels our attention right to the pulse-taking. But, there is something unsettling about that angle; all eyes are turned down to that space on the lady's forearm as if that action will have consequences, not only in that room, but outside of it. The heavy clothing almost stifles the human spirit and the warmth in the image is null. It makes me shiver. Curator: Agreed, though it is likely an accurate representation of the doctor's somber manner to give importance and gravity to a formal situation; death after all was commonplace. It could be argued that, on a semiotic level, it also points to the complex relationship between the artist's vision and cultural paradigms concerning health. How, even in its representational strategy, we find embedded ideologies. Editor: I find it rather thought-provoking how this old engraving pulls on modern heartstrings still. It captures the shared human experience with illness in such stark and honest shades, really driving the narrative and, oddly enough, inspiring empathetic observation. Curator: I agree completely! I see echoes of societal anxieties as the doctor examines her with extreme importance. Editor: A powerful, thought-provoking slice of 18th-century life; a visual time capsule. Curator: Yes. There is so much information embedded into this rather small artwork! I feel as if this will need a much longer explanation...