Monniken in kloostergang 1838 - 1863

Frederik Hendrik Weissenbruch created this print called ‘Monks in a Cloister’ sometime in the mid-19th century. This image is less concerned with religious devotion than with the atmosphere of old buildings. Weissenbruch has given us an unromantic view of institutional life. Rather than a grand cathedral, we see a domestic space defined by its stark simplicity. Monastic life, in the Protestant Netherlands, would have seemed antiquated, evoking a Catholic past that was rejected. The artist has chosen to depict a building from the past, in a quiet moment, perhaps as a way of reflecting on the changing social and cultural landscape of the Netherlands. Historical archives might reveal clues about the buildings that Weissenbruch depicted, and the social function of such monasteries in the Netherlands at that time. Only through such historical research can we better understand the social and cultural meanings of this artwork.