Kind met een muts 1726 - 1728

Curator: This is "Child with a Cap", an engraving by François Boucher, dating from around 1726-1728. Editor: Isn't it charming? The softness of the light and the delicacy of the lines make it seem almost dreamlike. There's a gentle stillness, a quiet moment captured. Curator: Indeed, the rococo style emphasizes that kind of fleeting beauty. Notice how Boucher uses the engraving technique to mimic the subtlety of a chalk drawing, very trendy at the time for informal portraits. I'm curious about the paper it is printed on as well... it doesn't seem to be of the highest quality. Editor: That is true! But it might just be an economical means of reaching a wider market at that time. Prints made art accessible; suddenly, you don't need a massive commission, the engraver can bring your image into middle-class parlors. What sort of labor distribution arrangements existed at the time of making such piece of work? Was Boucher involved at all in the engraving itself? Curator: That's right. And while Boucher may have overseen the production or even created a preparatory drawing, the actual engraving work would likely have been delegated to a skilled printmaker. Also the cap looks particularly cozy, a welcome item to see in the gray Parisian winters of the time, don't you agree? Editor: Exactly. Considering that this print resides at the Rijksmuseum is indeed a cultural commodity to be carefully investigated. The materiality of it invites more questions. Curator: For me it encapsulates the playful innocence the Rococo style favored. The gaze almost hints at something mischievou. Editor: True, yet understanding the labor and industry involved in creating it makes me appreciate its presence as a decorative, even functional, artifact in the history of reproduction of art objects. Curator: A practical keepsake with lingering grace then, wouldn't you say? It speaks to different stories to different voices after all!