Jongen staande bij een ladder en een mand 1874 - 1925

This drawing was made by Jan Veth, and it portrays a boy posed beside a ladder and a basket. The ladder, seemingly a mundane object, echoes ancient desires and myths of ascension. We see ladders in the dreams of Jacob, depicted reaching towards the divine, and in countless mythologies where heroes ascend to claim their destiny. Even here, the ladder serves as a bridge between the earthly and the aspirational, a tool for the boy to possibly rise above his station. Consider the basket, a symbol of both containment and provision, seen in images of the infant Moses hidden amongst the reeds or of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, holding a cornucopia. These symbols, though transformed through time and culture, carry an inherent emotional power, speaking to our collective memories of hope, struggle, and the timeless human quest for meaning.