Henri Bernard van der Kolk at the Age of Two Possibly 1857

Jaroslav Cermak painted this portrait of Henri Bernard van der Kolk, aged two, using oil on canvas. The smooth surface doesn't immediately reveal much about its making, but look closely, and you’ll notice thin layers of paint, carefully blended to create a lifelike image. The subtle modeling of the child's face, and the soft folds of the draped fabric, show off Cermak's technical skill. Oil paint, developed centuries ago, allowed for greater realism and detail than earlier paints. It also became closely associated with academic art. The canvas support, stretched over a wooden frame, provided a stable surface. But it was also a commodity, produced through industrial processes. The creation of this type of artwork, then, depended on a complex web of labor and material production. By understanding these material and social histories, we can appreciate how so-called fine art has always relied on everyday processes.