Ein Fischerknabe 1830

Friedrich von Amerling painted "Ein Fischerknabe," or "A Fisher Boy," at a time when artists across Europe were reckoning with the legacies of Romanticism and the new demands of an expanding middle class. We might consider the ways in which the figure of the boy fisherman draws on the Romantic idea of the solitary individual in communion with nature. However, it’s important to remember that Amerling was working in Austria, a place with its own complex social and political history. The barefoot boy and his discarded shoe are signifiers of the working class, perhaps commenting on the social structures of the time. During the 19th century, paintings were displayed in public galleries, like the Belvedere in Vienna. How do we understand the new role of art in a society undergoing major economic and political change? To understand this painting better, we might research the history of childhood, class, and labor in 19th-century Austria, looking into the sorts of institutions that shaped people’s lives.