Buste van een boer met een hoed 1679 - 1754

This anonymous etching, now held in the Rijksmuseum, depicts a peasant wearing a hat. Notice the hat, a common symbol of identity. Historically, hats denoted profession, status, and even political or religious affiliation. The tilted hat here is reminiscent of the Phrygian cap, a soft conical hat associated with freedom and revolution, worn by freed slaves in antiquity and later adopted during the French Revolution. But unlike the noble Roman or the idealized Marianne, this man's visage is humble, his expression almost mocking. Consider how head coverings, from the turbans of the East to the miters of bishops, have symbolized power, authority, or cultural identity. Yet here, the hat seems to serve a different purpose, almost undermining any sense of grandeur. It's a cyclical progression—the symbol of freedom now worn by an anonymous peasant, its meaning transformed, yet still echoing faint whispers of its revolutionary past. It is an evolution embedded deep within the image itself.