In een vertrek staat een man met een kruiwagen waarop een ton 1777

Curator: So, what springs to mind when you see this engraving? For me, it's instant chaos with a smirk. Editor: There's an intriguing formality, even severity, in the lines themselves, the cross-hatching used to create depth and shadow. Yet the scene it depicts seems so delightfully… absurd. Curator: Exactly! This little scene, crafted back in 1777 by Reinier Vinkeles, and residing here at the Rijksmuseum, it’s got this perfectly stiff, neoclassical veneer. But the figures! They're shoving this giant barrel in what seems to be a well decorated chamber of the house using a wheelbarrow, almost like they are a comedy group of clumsy fellows. Editor: I agree; The space, rendered so precisely, adheres to a strict geometry – the orthogonal lines of the floor, the balanced recession into space… However, look at the expressions. Or try to look... such is the fine linework and lack of detailed rendering on their facial attributes. But the man who looks to the viewer's side, is definitely more joyful! It disrupts any easy reading of decorum. Curator: And I love the tiny caption, "Gy ook! gy houdt de hand aan myn vaatje." or something along the lines of "you too! you hold your hand to my barrel", like it's a bit from some bawdy play. I suspect there is in reality a lot of nuance in this scene, which as years have passed is slowly diminishing... I would love to know exactly what it would mean to them, in their everyday, seeing that visual joke. The line between serious art and cheeky humour is thinner than we think sometimes, I reckon. Editor: Undoubtedly. And that tension – between the structured elegance of the engraving and the implied commotion of its subject matter – it makes it all the more interesting to behold even nowadays, for us to decipher this visual pun in order to get the proper laugh from the old masters. Curator: Cheers to that, indeed!