Slapend meisje met breiwerk 1736 - 1769

Curator: Claude Donat Jardinier’s engraving, "Slapend meisje met breiwerk," created sometime between 1736 and 1769, captures a moment of quiet domesticity. The Dutch title translates to “Sleeping girl with knitting.” Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the girl's posture—so completely slumped in sleep, she exudes exhaustion. It feels like a weighted tableau of forced domesticity. Curator: Jardinier produced this engraving after a painting by Greuze. Greuze’s images, popular in their time, were often meant to instill specific morals and lessons through sentimental narratives, though some see them more as precursors to pornography that masquerade as moral stories. In what ways does she resonate with those moral or sexually-charged ambiguities? Editor: I agree that it certainly presents conflicting messages, it would have served in some part as a way of reinforcing social roles, specifically expectations of women that are clearly embedded in the art itself. Looking closer, it's evident the girl is engaged in traditionally feminine handiwork—an activity prescribed by gender roles and societal pressures of the period. Her weariness reads not just as exhaustion but perhaps as resistance. And is this art about domestic virtue, or voyeurism of a child, as is said in many of the modern readings of Greuze and his circle? Curator: Considering feminist readings of art, that resistance becomes so much clearer as the print becomes more loaded. While it’s tempting to focus on the technical mastery of the engraving—the detailed rendering of textures in her gown, for example, also demonstrates the societal forces at play— it reminds us that what and how we choose to depict is a cultural decision with social impact. Editor: Indeed, seeing it as more than just an isolated aesthetic object transforms our appreciation for Jardinier's print. Thinking about who this work was made for and by whom helps re-contextualize both its origins and lingering relevance. Curator: Thinking about the societal structures within this art really underlines art's relationship with activism.