Figuren op een steiger naast enkele huizen aan een waterkant 1834 - 1906

Maria Vos made this sketch of figures on a jetty beside houses on a waterfront, but the drawing is undated. Vos was born in the Netherlands in 1824, when the country had only recently emerged from French occupation. This sketch invites us to consider the artist's position within the social and artistic landscape of the Netherlands. Vos’s choice of subject matter reflects the artistic conventions of the time, specifically the popularity of landscape and genre scenes depicting everyday life. Vos came from a family of painters and studied at the Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague. At the time, art academies were important institutions, with social hierarchies and gendered expectations. Consider how the artist positioned herself in relation to these artistic and social norms. Was she trying to reproduce them, or contest them? To gain a deeper understanding of this work, we need to examine her relationship with contemporary art institutions and the art market. By examining the social conditions in which Vos worked, we can appreciate the historical and cultural context that shaped her artistic vision.