Sitzende Frau mit Mandoline 1879

Otto Scholderer made this delicate pencil drawing, *Seated Woman with Mandolin*, in 1879. Drawn during a time of significant social change across Europe, as traditional class structures were slowly starting to shift. The image presents a young woman, seated and holding a mandolin, a symbol of leisure and refinement. Consider the role of women during this era, often confined to domestic and decorative roles. Here, the woman’s gaze is directed downwards, almost introspective, hinting at the complex inner life of women whose external freedoms were limited. The use of the mandolin brings up questions about cultural identity and performance. Was music a form of expression, resistance, or simply a display of social grace? Scholderer captures a moment that speaks to the constraints and the quiet rebellions within 19th-century bourgeois society.