Jongen met baret en hond 1809 - 1837

Pieter Bartholomeusz. Barbiers created this work titled 'Boy with beret and dog' using pen in gray ink. The composition consists of two distinct, vertically stacked portraits. The upper one depicts a boy with a beret, rendered with fine lines and delicate shading, evoking a sense of melancholy. Below, a smaller portrait of a dog mirrors the style, creating a visual echo. Barbiers’s method invites us to consider the semiotics of portraiture. The arrangement—placing the human figure above the animal—hints at a social hierarchy, but the similarity in execution also blurs those boundaries. The gaze of the boy is directed slightly upward and away, while the dog looks out at us, challenging fixed meanings and social values through composition and gaze.