Lady Playing a Guitar 1771 - 1808

Curator: What a delicate scene. This drawing, titled "Lady Playing a Guitar," comes to us from Jacques Kuyper, dating sometime between 1771 and 1808. It's currently housed here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Yes, delicate is the right word. It strikes me as incredibly soft. The pen strokes are so light, almost hesitant. And the limited palette creates an airy, almost ethereal quality. Curator: Absolutely. The use of pen and ink to depict this interior scene allows us a glimpse into the world of musical performance among the upper classes. These were the times of Rococo’s final flourish across Europe, when class and pleasure came under closer scrutiny by an ever-rising mercantile class. Notice the accoutrements of wealth; the harpsichord, her delicate gown, her refined curls… Editor: And yet, despite all the trappings, she seems a bit… melancholic? Perhaps it's the angle of her gaze, slightly averted, or the wispy strokes that fail to truly anchor her in space. It almost suggests a dream, or a memory. Is that truly rococo, though, it’s very subdued when so much rococo is quite grandiose? Curator: Rococo began as pure ornamentation but matured towards subjects more about taste and discretion in its later phases, qualities demanded by rising elites eager to signal sophistication in social status and decorum. That thoughtfulness you describe aligns with that shift towards representing genteel sensibility rather than pomp. The guitar itself might also be playing into that sensibility; after all, it became the commoners’ chosen instrument of performance and so suggests a subtle bridging between peoples… Editor: Interesting point! So even the choice of instrument has social undertones. Looking closely, there’s such a beautiful, intricate quality to the rendering of her face and gown that contrast against those hazy pen lines around her. Curator: A purposeful contrast I believe to both romanticize the moment and denote class differences between those sketched as ephemeral background characters versus the sitter herself, positioned squarely at the music, suggesting at an idealized subject capable of sublime musical ability. Editor: Well, thinking about composition, class, technique—it all definitely enriches my initial reading of the drawing’s soft melancholy. I hadn't considered how meticulously constructed that sense of quietude is. Curator: Indeed, there’s so much embedded in the simplicity of this scene.