Jongen met een rommelpot 1698 - 1776

Curator: Here we have "Boy with a Jew's Harp," a charcoal drawing from the Dutch Golden Age, crafted by Johannes de Groot the Younger. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It has such a smoky quality, doesn’t it? The textures are all created by these very soft gradients of charcoal, it almost feels like you could reach out and feel the grain of the paper. Curator: De Groot was indeed a master of charcoal, favoring it for its versatility. This piece provides insight into Dutch genre painting and how childhood was portrayed during that time. This drawing is, as its title says, one of a boy playing the Jew's harp, known in Dutch as "rommelpot," a popular instrument especially during festivals and celebrations, and that gives you a sense of how this was once viewed. Editor: It makes you think about accessibility, too. It's charcoal on paper, relatively cheap and common materials compared to the expensive oil paints often associated with that period. This allowed for a wider segment of the population to produce and acquire art. Who could own this type of drawing? Was the artist someone who came from privilege or was he working with limited means? Curator: Good question, and one art historians debate constantly. Dutch society at the time was becoming increasingly stratified with its levels of global commercial engagement. Whether a middle class Dutch family hung drawings in their parlors versus having huge commissioned history paintings is an element that shifts how we imagine who had access to "high art." Editor: That makes you question who this child was as well. De Groot gives him a kind of everyman status by using charcoal in this way, but were drawings used for portraiture as well as social commentary? There's a kind of wry smile here. I want to understand more about him. Curator: This drawing, therefore, embodies both the artistic skill of de Groot, his ability to harness charcoal, but also touches on social dynamics—the lives and entertainment of the Dutch population at the time. Editor: I hadn’t expected that the image of a child with a musical instrument could be a gateway into discussions of the art market, materiality, and the nature of artistic production. Curator: Indeed. Even a simple genre scene such as this can illuminate much larger social and cultural histories.