Madonna and Child 

This “Madonna and Child” was painted by the Austrian artist Hans Zatzka, who lived from 1859 to 1945. It’s oil paint on canvas, and the style is academic, meaning that it’s deliberately in keeping with the aesthetic conventions of the time. That’s important to note because this is an essentially commercial product. Zatzka turned out literally thousands of paintings, often with religious or allegorical themes, aimed at a middle-class market. He even used a pseudonym sometimes to keep up with demand. Look closely and you can see the hand of the artist, of course – the skilled brushwork, the luminous color. But he was also part of a much larger system of mass production and consumption. The canvas itself, the pigments, the composition: all were essentially purchased off the rack, and put to work to satisfy a public appetite. The painting is skilled, and pleasant enough, but it’s not just an expression of the artist’s inner vision. It’s also a document of the culture industry at work.