Figuren bij een vrouw in een grafkist 1776 - 1851

Daniël Veelwaard made this print, "Figures at a woman in a coffin," at an unknown date. This is a curious image which seems to depict a European fantasy of a scene in the Middle East or North Africa. We see a group of figures dressed in what were likely understood as "oriental" costumes, gathered around a coffin in what might be a garden. It is titled "Immortality", which could represent an argument for the "timelessness" of religious devotion. The image is full of stereotypical references, such as the palm tree or the figures dressed in turbans or headscarves. It speaks more about the way that Dutch culture imagined the East than it does about actual Middle Eastern culture. To understand an image like this better, we can research visual codes, study the historical associations of certain images, and trace how the social and political context may have shaped what the artist was trying to say.