Interieur met meisje dat harp speelt en een heer in een stoel die toekijkt 1831 - 1892

David Bles made this watercolor, "Interior with a Girl Playing the Harp and a Gentleman Watching in a Chair", in the Netherlands. While undated, Bles lived and worked through most of the 19th century. Here we see the trappings of bourgeois domesticity. The harp embodies feminine accomplishment, while the gentleman is free to enjoy the fruits of leisure. This comfortable scene is a far cry from the historical reality of many at this time; it’s important to remember the enormous class disparity of 19th-century Europe. David Bles’s paintings are known for their anecdotal style and focus on historical genre scenes. His work gained popularity during a period of increasing interest in history, and we can read this painting as an idealized vision of Dutch society. In researching the history of art, sources such as historical documents, museum archives, and studies of cultural history all help us better understand the social and institutional contexts of art. These can help us draw our own conclusions about art’s meaning and significance.