Twee koppen 1768 - 1796

Curator: We’re looking at Pieter de Mare’s "Twee Koppen," dating from around 1768 to 1796, a print residing here at the Rijksmuseum. It presents us with two head-and-shoulder portraits in separate frames. Editor: My first impression is of weariness. A sense of age, definitely, but something beyond that in the way the figures are rendered with these quick, etched lines. It almost feels like a critique of genre itself. Curator: I agree about the weariness. What strikes me is how this etching captures a very specific time. The rise of genre painting served a particular socio-economic purpose; in showing ordinary people doing ordinary things, you cement the idea that there are "ordinary" people to begin with. A division of labor, maybe? Editor: Exactly! And how it's reproduced is interesting: the use of etching, a relatively accessible printmaking technique, points to wider consumption beyond the elite. These images are materially linked to that growing merchant class. It suggests both artistic skill and industrial process. Curator: Indeed. De Mare engages with existing portrait and genre conventions. We have these seemingly individualized, specific people—yet, placed within separate boxes, implying a broader societal categorization based on occupation or social standing. Editor: What do you make of the details, materially? Look at the shading created through cross-hatching; it's almost hasty but creates a sense of texture to their clothes. It feels deliberate, conveying work. Curator: These techniques create a stark realism—perhaps challenging romanticized visions of the poor by those in positions of power during the era of Dutch prosperity. Editor: So even in its time, "genre-painting," wasn't a benign, transparent record of reality, it was actively shaped and distributed based on socioeconomic changes of that period. De Mare acknowledges labor through his focus on materials. Curator: By representing working-class figures so bluntly, he arguably offers a silent commentary on the growing divide that characterizes 18th century Europe, resisting its flattening through both genre painting or portraiture. Editor: Thinking about this work as an example of printmaking offers valuable insights into the evolving conditions of labor, production, and consumption in Dutch society. Curator: Examining how De Mare used form and composition provides a fascinating intersection between the growing interest in social genre painting and individual experiences in this era of class and gender hierarchies.