Dame met waaier, lopend op straat, gekleed volgens de mode omstreeks 1660 c. 1660

Jan van Troyen created this etching around 1660, depicting a fashionable lady with a fan strolling along a street. The image, though small, presents a complex arrangement of lines and forms, carefully balanced to draw the eye through the scene. Notice how van Troyen employs a semiotic language of dress and setting to communicate status and civility. The woman’s attire, with its detailed folds and textures, speaks to a certain societal class. The architectural backdrop is rendered with precision, yet it is the dynamic interplay between the figure and her environment that animates the piece. The open doorway acts as a frame, while the playful dog introduces a note of informality. Van Troyen’s use of line to define form is striking. The etching’s composition invites us to consider the relationship between the individual and the constructed spaces they inhabit. This piece encapsulates a moment in time, a snapshot of 17th-century life, mediated through the formal language of line and space.