Sleeping young woman 

Jacob Happ made this drawing of a sleeping young woman in Germany, though the exact date remains unknown. The work is more than just a portrait; it’s a study in the vulnerability of the private sphere. Consider the time in which Happ was working, where the public role of women was a topic of debate, and the politics of imagery were particularly charged. We might ask how the drawing functions as a comment on the social structures of its time? Is it progressive in its sensitive portrayal, or does it, perhaps, unintentionally reinforce certain social norms? To delve deeper, we might turn to archives of social history, studies of gender roles in late 19th-century Germany, and exhibition catalogues from the period. Understanding art requires seeing it as contingent on the society and institutions that gave it meaning.