De modellen Blok en Netje in een tableau vivant (?) naar Le Berger Galant van Boucher (Arti, Pulchri Studio) c. 1890 - 1900

Machiel Hendricus Laddé created this intriguing small photograph called 'De modellen Blok en Netje in een tableau vivant (?) naar Le Berger Galant van Boucher'. This photograph stages two models, Blok and Netje, in a re-creation of François Boucher's 'Le Berger Galant.' In Laddé’s time, the construction of ‘tableaux vivants’ or living pictures was a popular form of entertainment, but it was also used by artists to explore and challenge social norms through art. What does it mean to re-stage a French Rococo painting with working class models? Laddé here touches on issues of class, gender, and representation. While mimicking Boucher's pastoral scene, Laddé subverts the original's aristocratic idyll by casting working-class individuals, thus questioning the accessibility and performance of such romantic ideals across social strata. The photograph invites us to reflect on the relationships between art, labor, and identity in the late 19th century.