Vier huwelijksaanzoeken 1781

Editor: We’re looking at "Vier huwelijksaanzoeken" – Four Marriage Proposals – by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, made in 1781. It’s a print, an engraving actually, and it strikes me as a series of little theatre stages, each presenting a different flavor of courtship. There's a stark contrast in setting between each one, but also a curious formality that kind of flattens the emotional impact. How do you read this piece? Curator: Flattening… yes, like pressing flowers in a book to capture a feeling that's already gone. Chodowiecki was a master of observing social nuances. Notice how he differentiates each suitor. We go from rustic simplicity to bourgeois constraint to almost tragic self-importance – the last fellow in that grand, melancholic garden… almost as if he's about to be rejected. What I find truly interesting is the lack of true engagement. All of the "proposals" feel staged for an audience of unseen arbiters. Is that the case or it's my whimsical brain going again? Editor: That makes a lot of sense! Now that you mention it, the subjects almost seem like mannequins showcasing different approaches to marriage. Each little scene feels very performative. Curator: Precisely. Consider the time! This is just before the French Revolution. Social structures were about to be challenged as much as tastes in art, or clothing, or...love. There's a fragility to these "proposals" – and it's just delightful to imagine Chodowiecki grinning as he etched each line, fully aware that soon it would all seem impossibly antiquated. Don't you feel as if that's almost a satire, a very subtle social satire? Editor: Oh, definitely! Now I see the humor in the formality, almost as if the artist is winking at us. I initially missed that layer. Curator: That's the beautiful thing about art, isn't it? We are eternally evolving into it.