Moeder 1694 - 1737

Curator: Immediately striking; there's such clarity of line in this engraving. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is "Moeder," which translates to "Mother," by Pieter van den Berge. It dates sometime between 1694 and 1737. It’s quite the Baroque print on display at the Rijksmuseum. Curator: Let’s focus on that technique for a moment. Think about the labor involved in creating such fine detail. Engraving, as a process, required immense skill, precision, and time. The tools themselves—burins, scrapers—determined the aesthetic possibilities and, therefore, the dissemination of knowledge and artistic styles. Editor: Absolutely. The positioning of the woman as a maternal figure in the center suggests not only her power, with the figure in the background holding what looks to be a rod or scepter. She seems to be commanding their attention in a didactic way that mirrors patriarchal educational expectations. The mother's pose is regal, which definitely ties into contemporary discourses around female education and societal expectations. Curator: You're right, the contrast created by the dark lines forming the ornate clothing and detailed setting speaks to material privilege and consumption during that time. Those textiles are indicators of access. Editor: And note the power dynamics playing out between the mother and the two younger figures. I am struck by the social class, specifically how access is gatekept by institutions that perpetuate a specific code. It would be naive to only consider it a scene depicting familial relationships and how expectations influence dynamics and subjectivities. The Latin inscriptions make that very evident, especially when juxtaposed with the genre-like setting. Curator: The decision to produce it as a print—a more easily reproducible format—meant wider circulation, creating accessibility to that code and the fashion it entailed, at least to a certain segment of the population who could afford to purchase the print. Editor: It also provides scholars and art-lovers with the necessary visual evidence that enables further discussion about art’s function. Thanks for highlighting the importance of considering access via labor. Curator: The layering of detail across textures and the visual signifiers point toward access to systems and, therefore, labor—all necessary factors of production that made the proliferation of material culture and knowledge possible. Editor: Indeed. Analyzing van den Berge’s "Moeder" and contextualizing this in our contemporary climate allows us to draw parallels on contemporary power and labor systems.