The Cook 1775

Curator: Up next we have "The Cook," an etching and engraving by Giovanni David, created around 1775. It's a rather intimate genre scene. What’s your first take on it? Editor: The texture jumps out – the roughness of the apron against the almost porcelain sheen of her face. You can almost feel the different fabrics through David's precise lines. I immediately want to examine the production, understand his mark-making, the inks he used... Curator: A woman posed proudly, almost stoically, in her kitchen. Note the tools and staples surrounding her; consider them as symbolic props. The hanging pot implies sustenance and nurturing. Editor: Look closer. Her hands are clasped so neatly, almost defensively. The fire and the tools scattered speak volumes about labor, domestic life as manufacture, consumption and social standing in 18th-century households. Is she a 'cook' or a more significant household manager? What access to resources does her work provide? Curator: Perhaps her role offered authority within her own sphere, domestic power enacted daily by what she provided or withheld. Even something as quotidian as this meal reveals much about hierarchy. Editor: It's amazing how much is conveyed through a ‘simple’ etching, which can easily reach a wider, newer, non-elite audience. The availability of affordable images, in turn, democratises the dialogue in 18th century culture and the construction of knowledge. How very different to the gilded portraits we normally focus on. Curator: A vital, everyday scene indeed. So much social meaning condensed in a single image from centuries ago, accessible thanks to a single print. Editor: Looking closer at this image, it's almost a document of the materials, processes and economies of daily life – an invaluable trace from the past. Thank you.