Brief aan de commissie van de Tentoonstelling van Levende Meesters in Den Haag Possibly 1847

This is a letter, penned in Brussels on April 26th, 1847, by Jean Baptiste Van Eycken. It's written with iron gall ink –the standard writing medium for centuries– on a paper that would have been made from pulped rags. The letter is a submission to the Exhibition of Living Masters in The Hague, offering a painting depicting a fishmonger for sixty-five florins. It’s a fascinating insight into the economics of art at the time. The labor isn't just in the painting itself, but also in this act of self-promotion, the careful formation of each letter, and the calculated offer pitched to appeal to potential buyers. We often think of art existing in a rarified sphere, but here, we see it entangled with commerce, with Van Eycken acting as both artist and salesman. The letter itself becomes an artifact, bearing witness to the artist’s labor and the social conditions of his time. This piece invites us to consider how artistic value is constructed, negotiated, and ultimately, bound to the material realities of its creation.