Standbeeld van een vrouw met een pilaar en een leeg wapenschild 1695 - 1743

François Roëttiers created this drawing of a woman with a pillar and empty shield sometime between 1700 and 1742. The image depicts a woman draped in classical garb. She leans against a pillar, gazing off to the side, with an empty shield resting at her side. The lack of any identifying marks on the shield is notable, particularly considering the period. Roëttiers was working in a time of rigid social hierarchies. He was from a family of medalists, engravers, and goldsmiths, who served Kings such as Louis XIV. Often art from this period was commissioned by the elite, and included heraldic symbols and coats of arms to signify power, status, and lineage. The emptiness of the shield could imply the opposite – a statement on the transience of nobility, perhaps? Or could it suggest potential, a space for new identities? Consider the woman's gaze. What is she looking at? What futures does she imagine?