A Standing Lady in a Day Dress 1775 - 1780

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki made this red chalk drawing, A Standing Lady in a Day Dress. Given his dates, we know that he was working during the Enlightenment, in the late eighteenth century. Here, the lady’s high, elaborate hairstyle and her modest but elegant day dress tells us that she probably belongs to the upper-middle class in Prussia. The choice of red chalk is also significant. It's a medium often used for preparatory sketches and informal portraiture, hinting at a certain intimacy and immediacy. Chodowiecki was a very active artist in his community and he was involved in the Berlin Academy of Arts. As an artist, he was committed to representing everyday life and ordinary people. We might want to know what his role was in shaping cultural taste or reflecting the values of emerging institutions like the Academy. Was he supportive of the status quo or did he use art to comment on the social structure of his time? To understand this drawing better, we could look at fashion plates, social histories, and records from the Berlin Academy to understand how institutions can shape artistic production and reception.