Rommelpotspeler 1823 - 1900

Curator: I'm struck by how dreamlike this engraving feels. The feathery lines give everything a slightly blurred edge, like a memory. Editor: That's an interesting point. What we have here is a print entitled “Rommelpotspeler” by Johann Wilhelm (I) Kaiser, made sometime between 1823 and 1900. I agree, it definitely has an otherworldly quality. Curator: Yes! I wonder, did they really dress like that? Is this genre-painting trying to evoke something real, or something imagined? The guy holding the Rommelpot has a look like he is performing. Like he is inviting you to get into the mood... Editor: Well, these kinds of images depicting scenes from everyday life were often used to solidify a national identity in 19th-century Europe, but that does not tell you if that man is genuinely dressed or pretending, it only suggests the context of those kinds of representations. I wonder, how do you read his smile? Curator: Mischievous, I think! The way he’s looking right at us… I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him. Like the whole thing is staged and he’s waiting for a punchline, or a big scare. Editor: Precisely! It's playing on those older archetypes to suggest things about that subject or a particular idea about Dutch Identity, but the Romanticism influences how the subjects' gaze impacts your overall read of the scene. Curator: I hadn’t thought about that at all, but you're completely right. You know, I feel like I’ve actually been invited to their theater show and I just don't know the protocol for participating yet. I like this artwork a little better knowing there's such a cultural intent baked inside it. Editor: Agreed! Seeing those little threads—genre and identity and Romanticism-- woven together is fascinating.