Bedelares met drie kinderen 1764

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki created this etching, titled 'Bedelares met drie kinderen,' which translates to "Beggar Woman with Three Children," in 1764. Chodowiecki lived during the Enlightenment, a period that saw evolving views on social structures and human rights. This work captures a mother and three children in what appears to be a moment of rest. We see a woman, presumably the mother, seated and holding one child, while another clings to her side, and the third is on her back. The lines of the etching carefully detail the clothing and the intimate gathering of the figures, which suggests a narrative steeped in the everyday struggles of the less fortunate. The image reflects the period's complex attitudes toward poverty and motherhood, and the era's social consciousness. Chodowiecki invites us to reflect on the emotional and material realities of poverty and the resilience of family bonds. The personal is, as always, political.