Man en twee vrouwen gezeten bij een tafel in een Zaandamse woonkamer 1822 - 1825

Jean-Baptiste Madou’s print shows a Zaandam interior, rendered with careful gradations of tone. The image is made from lines etched into a metal plate, likely copper, which was then inked and pressed onto paper. The medium here is significant. Printmaking was closely tied to the rise of mass media and a newly literate public. The man in the image is reading a newspaper. Note how Madou carefully depicts not only his dress, but also the domestic labor of the women, one sewing, the other perhaps knitting. The mantelpiece displays an array of neatly arranged ceramic plates. The overall effect is to document a burgeoning middle class, where increased leisure allows for consumption and cultivation, and where news and images can circulate freely. By looking at the making of this print, we can appreciate how it speaks to larger social and economic shifts. It challenges the traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.