Afbeeldingh hoe seven wyven vechten om een mans broeck ende de vrou de broeck aentrecht [(...)] Possibly 1700 - 1865

Editor: This print, whose title roughly translates to "Image of seven women fighting over a man's breeches," is an anonymous engraving, likely created sometime between 1700 and 1865. The comic strip-like panels have me intrigued. How do we even begin to interpret such a strange scene? Curator: This image provides a fascinating window into early modern European anxieties around gender roles and societal order. Notice the central struggle for the breeches—what does this usurpation of patriarchal power symbolize in that period? Editor: I guess, at face value, it's funny, and the inscriptions feel almost tongue-in-cheek. Curator: Exactly. The humour serves as a potent vehicle for social commentary. Considering the historical context, these women fighting over trousers – a clear symbol of male authority – can be viewed as a carnivalesque disruption. Where and how were images like this circulating? To what end? What audiences are being cultivated and served by works of this nature? Editor: So, this chaotic scene, rather than just being funny, becomes a symbol of societal tensions and anxieties related to power and gender roles. Curator: Precisely. And the "folk art" aspect deepens its subversive potential. Because these kinds of images would be far more readily disseminated across lines of social class than official or “High Art” prints would. So its political agency becomes magnified exponentially. What could be more potent than a low cost image that might sow the seeds of dissent? Editor: Wow, I had not considered this reading. So, even a seemingly lighthearted image can reveal complex cultural anxieties when we view it through an intersectional lens.