Tafel met offerschaal en een Griekse vaas 1813

Catharina Kemper made this sketch of a table with an offering bowl and a Greek vase. Kemper's drawing reflects the 19th-century fascination with classical antiquity and its influence on European art and design. The objects she depicts weren't just aesthetic; they were deeply entangled with ideas about cultural heritage and national identity, a vision of an ideal past and a set of principles to live by. By reproducing these forms, Kemper situates herself within a lineage of artists and thinkers looking to the past for guidance. What does it mean for a woman artist to engage with this tradition? Does she replicate the past, or does she subtly reshape it through her gaze? These are questions worth considering as we contemplate Kemper's drawing, and the complex web of history, gender, and artistic aspiration it embodies.