Kop van een schaap 1796 - 1856

Reinierus Albertus Ludovicus baron van Isendoorn à Blois made this head of a sheep in the Netherlands, sometime in the first half of the 19th century. It is an etching. As a nobleman, Van Isendoorn à Blois occupied a particular social position which gave him access to the leisure time, education and materials needed to produce art. The nineteenth century was a time of great social change. The Dutch countryside, which had remained largely unchanged for centuries, was now under pressure. Industrialisation brought an end to traditional ways of life. Perhaps an image like this, of a simple farm animal, reflects a certain nostalgia for the past. To understand this work more fully, we could look at the artist's biography to learn more about his political views, and we could study the history of Dutch agriculture at this time to understand how it was changing. The meaning of art changes depending on the social and historical context in which it is viewed.