Dame, gekleed volgens de mode van ca. 1630, op de rug gezien c. 1630

Curator: This etching by Pieter Nolpe, made around 1630, is called "Dame, gekleed volgens de mode van ca. 1630, op de rug gezien," or "Lady, Dressed According to the Fashion of around 1630, Seen from the Back" if we translate the title. What do you make of it? Editor: Well, my first thought is "mystery woman!" We only see her back, holding what looks like a feather fan. There's an incredible crispness and specificity to her garments and how they fall on her figure. It is also just such an odd angle, I want to know who this person is. It also reminds me a bit of street fashion photos taken today, just capturing a fleeting style of the day. Curator: I agree, the fashion is the focus here, definitely intended to inform and perhaps even titillate the viewer. Publications of fashion in print gained popularity at this time, with the increased urbanization. It catered to growing consumerism and class differentiation in Dutch society. Editor: It's so cool how something can feel so distant and yet, in other ways, so relatable! The landscape, and even the smoke in the background seems alive and ephemeral, despite this drawing having been static for so long. Curator: Absolutely, these types of engravings functioned as visual documentation of status. What is interesting to consider in this print is how Nolpe positions the woman against the backdrop of daily life—people going about their business in the streets of the Netherlands, so viewers may well have aspired to such fashion and social status. Editor: And you have to wonder about the woman herself—was she in on the art of it all? It's amazing to think about these echoes of the past that inform and transform our present moment. I love how art invites us to create a story out of whatever tiny moment we have here. Curator: Indeed, reflecting on pieces such as Nolpe's allows us to understand the ways fashion can convey social aspirations and class standing. Editor: Right? I love when a historical piece also manages to feel this contemporary.