Drie kinderen een kaartenhuis bouwend 1712 - 1772

Jean Michel Liotard created this print, "Three Children Building a House of Cards," using etching and engraving, techniques capable of rendering great detail. Look closely, and you'll notice how the crisp lines create a sense of depth and texture, defining not only the figures and their environment, but also the paper cards themselves. These cards, humble materials in their own right, are transformed through the children’s careful labor into something more ambitious, a precarious structure that mirrors the social hierarchies of the time. The print invites us to consider the amount of work involved in creating even the simplest of structures, whether a house of cards or the social order itself. The process-oriented approach here blurs the boundaries between play and labor, suggesting that even in leisure, the values and structures of society are being actively constructed and reinforced. It reminds us that meaning lies not just in the final product, but in the very act of making.