The young gamekeeper 

Otto Scholderer sketched ‘The Young Gamekeeper’ in pencil sometime during the mid-19th century. Scholderer lived through the tumultuous period of German unification. This drawing provides insight into the identities and roles that were emerging. Here we see a boy, rendered with a gentle hand, equipped for the hunt. The term “gamekeeper” itself speaks to a complex relationship between humanity and nature, where the wild is managed and controlled. This suggests privilege, a class structure where access to nature and its resources is determined by social standing. The boy's youth adds another layer. Is this an initiation into manhood, a passing down of tradition? Or does it critique the loss of innocence, a young person burdened with the responsibilities of maintaining a social order? 'The Young Gamekeeper' isn't just a portrait, it's a snapshot of a society grappling with its relationship to land, labor, and the very concept of belonging. It reflects the tensions between tradition and modernity, individual freedom and social obligation.