De eekhoorn 1894 - 1959

This print of a squirrel comes to us from the studio of Gordinne, Liege. Without a date, we might think about the cultural function of such an image. In the absence of explicit historical context, the picture speaks to an increasing interest in natural history and science. The image has a number "239", suggesting it may have been part of an encyclopedic collection of images for educational purposes. Note the way the squirrel is described in the text as not unknown to the land, and commonly sustained by fruits and nuts, and nimble on the branches of trees. These details tell us about the place of knowledge in society. How were people encouraged to understand the environment? How was their intellectual curiosity nurtured? Who was the imagined audience for the picture? These are the kind of questions a social historian might ask of such an artwork. Research into the Gordinne studio and the Rijksmuseum’s collection policies will help us understand the image better.