Lezende man 1814 - 1879

David van der Kellen made this small etching, titled "Lezende man," or "Man Reading," sometime in the 19th century. It shows a man in what appears to be a private domestic setting, illuminated by the dim light of an oil lamp, as he pores over a piece of paper. Given the time and place, the Netherlands, we might assume he’s reading news of the day, but the image is too ambiguous for any certain reading. What’s more important is the very fact of literacy. The rise of the newspaper press was a phenomenon that went hand in hand with social mobility. And the ability to read—once confined to the upper classes—became a universal aspiration. This image of a common man intently reading can be seen as emblematic of the democratization of knowledge that characterized the modern era. The social and intellectual history of 19th-century Netherlands can throw light on this image, reminding us that any artwork is made within a specific culture, and that culture shapes how it's made and understood.