Vrouw met twee kinderen in een interieur met groentemand 1761 - 1811

Joseph C. Maillet made this print, "Woman with two children in an interior with vegetable basket", sometime between 1751 and 1811. Maillet lived through the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, times of huge social upheaval. Notice how this print engages with then-contemporary debates about social class and gender roles. We see a woman and two children inside what looks to be a humble dwelling. She is working, sorting a basket of vegetables, while one of her children helps and the other sleeps nearby. The print is dedicated to a "Fermier General", a high-ranking tax collector. This dedication adds a layer of complexity, reminding us of the vast social and economic inequalities of the period. Was Maillet trying to depict the realities of working-class life, or was this image meant to idealize and romanticize rural life? The representation may have served to either validate or critique the existing social order, depending on the viewer's own position in society.