Vrouwen en kinderen bij een boerderij 1760

"Vrouwen en kinderen bij een boerderij," or Women and Children at a Farm, is an etching by Franz Edmund Weirotter. Though the work is undated, we can consider the cultural and societal context of the 18th century, the time in which Weirotter was active. Weirotter’s composition focuses on a scene of rural domesticity. What kind of story does this artwork tell about the labor and lives of women and children in the countryside during this era? How does Weirotter portray the relationship between the figures and their environment? Are they romanticized, or represented with some semblance of the hardship they would have faced? As you look, consider the details of their clothing and posture, what they might reveal about the social and economic status of the figures depicted. This piece invites us to consider the daily lives of women and children in the 1700s. It encourages questions about the representation of rural life, class, and gender roles in 18th-century art.