Gedenksteen met inscriptie 1750 - 1811

Carl Friedrich Holtzmann made this small print, titled "Gedenksteen met inscriptie," but we don’t know exactly when. Holtzmann lived through a period of immense social and philosophical change. This image shows a memorial stone set amongst foliage, bearing an inscription. Memorials often serve to perpetuate particular narratives of heroism, sacrifice, and nationhood. But consider for a moment what stories might be excluded from such monuments? What about the experiences of marginalized communities? Engravings like this often served as templates for larger, more public monuments. So, this print may be a vision or an idea for how the past should be remembered. This image prompts us to think about how we collectively shape historical memory. Who gets remembered, and what stories do we choose to tell about them?