Compositie met hoofd van een vrouw en een oude man met kind op de schoot 1805 - 1844

Ignace-Joseph de Claussin created this print, “Composition with head of a woman and an old man with child on the lap”, using etching. Claussin lived through the tumult of post-revolution France and the rise of industrial society, times when the very definition of family and gender roles were in flux. We see a clear contrast between the woman and the man, she is presented in profile, set apart, while the man, stooped with age, is physically supporting the child. The little boy appears to be reading, and the family group suggests the importance of education. What does it mean to depict a woman looking off into the distance while the men engage with the book? What is she thinking about, what is her interior world? Is Claussin subtly challenging the traditional representation of women? Or is he simply capturing the social dynamics of his time? This etching invites us to consider the silent roles women often play in the theater of family life.