Portret van een schrijvende vrouw 1666 - 1738

Editor: This is "Portrait of a Woman Writing" by Carel de Moor II. It’s dated somewhere between 1666 and 1738, and it's made using pen and etching techniques. The delicate strokes give it such a thoughtful, intimate feeling. How do you read this piece? Curator: I see an intriguing glimpse into the materials and the means of production during that era. Etching, a process involving acid and metal plates, made images more widely reproducible, disrupting the idea of the unique artwork, thus affecting its consumption and audience. What about the figure's dress, and that magnificent quill she uses? Editor: I notice her lavish clothing and feathered hat suggesting wealth, but her brow is furrowed – what was she writing and what kind of agency did women have with writing and the consumption of writing materials during that period? Curator: Exactly. Think about the social context and labour involved in producing paper, ink, and quills. What power dynamics are at play, and what kind of class dynamics exist with women depicted creating writing. What kind of a patron or merchant or institution paid de Moor to create this piece and why? Who consumed the many reproductions of the work? Editor: So, it’s less about the woman's story and more about the social and material conditions that enabled this very image to exist and be widely consumed. Curator: Precisely! It asks us to consider the processes and access behind both the depicted act of writing and the making of the print itself, the role of labor and commerce in artistic production, in the creation of the material objects such as etching. Editor: I never thought about it that way before! This changes how I understand the piece. Curator: That’s great, to move from appreciation into understanding that the artistic image and intention is caught within a matrix of material and social conditions.