Man met hoed gezeten op de hoek van een straat bij een kist en aap 1825 - 1863

Editor: We’re looking at “Man with hat seated on the corner of a street by a box and monkey”, an engraving by Guillaume Joseph Vertommen, dating from the mid-19th century, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. The details of the engraving, the texture... it feels almost photographic, but the scene depicts such ordinary, working-class life. What catches your eye in this print? Curator: This piece, to me, speaks volumes about the intersection of art, labor, and the emerging urban landscape. Consider the means of its production – engraving, a craft demanding precision and skill. It was, relatively, a means of mass production, and yet, here we are examining the singular image. Editor: You’re thinking about the act of creation and replication itself. Curator: Exactly. And the subject! Look at the man, the monkey, the box. He is almost certainly an organ grinder. A traveling entertainer. We must ask, what material conditions enabled such a life? How does his labor – and the monkey's "labor" – relate to consumption? It shows entertainment *for sale*. Editor: That's so interesting. So you're focusing less on the story being told and more on the mechanics of its telling and the economic reality it portrays. The social situation... Curator: Precisely! How are art, in its production and its subject, reflecting a society's means of production and consumption? Is this “high art,” or a document of labour and lived reality presented in a high art form? What did people expect or want from seeing such an image? What was the relation between maker and consumer at this time? Editor: So much to unpack! It’s interesting to see how considering the material aspects really opens up so many layers of interpretation. Curator: Indeed, and hopefully, illuminates the socio-economic forces that shaped both the artist and his world.