Huis van Bentinck aan het Voorhout te Den Haag, 1751 1751 - 1757

This etching by Paulus Constantijn la Fargue, made in 1751, depicts the Huis van Bentinck on the Voorhout in The Hague. It's a formal portrait of a building, yet it tells us much about the society that created and viewed it. La Fargue’s image reflects the rigid social hierarchies of the 18th century. The Bentinck House, a symbol of wealth and power, looms large, while the figures in the foreground are carefully placed to accentuate the grandeur of the building. Note the fashionable figures strolling, their clothing marking them as members of the elite, and consider those absent: the servants and laborers who maintained this lifestyle and building, their stories largely unrecorded. The etching employs a traditional representation of power, but also offers a glimpse into the daily life of the privileged. There’s a tension between the celebration of affluence and a subtle acknowledgment of the social structure upon which it depended. The scene invites us to reflect on the emotional distance between those who lived in such splendor and those who served them.