Twee vechtende mannen, een vrouw komt tussenbeide 1739 - 1804

Johann Andreas Benjamin Nothnagel created this small etching of two fighting men and a woman intervening sometime in the late 18th century. It's a scene of low life: an overturned jug suggests a drunken brawl, and a table with playing cards hints at the vice of gambling. Nothnagel was working in Germany, where the cultural memory of the Thirty Years War was still alive. During that time, the fabric of society was torn, and the rule of law collapsed as the population was subjected to the whims of marauding armies. This etching reminds us of the ever-present possibility of violence in everyday life. Looking at this etching through a historian's eyes, we can see how it reflects broader social anxieties of the time. Scholars of political theory such as Thomas Hobbes saw the state as a necessary force to maintain order, so people could avoid the brutish state of nature. Art like this helps us consider the place of such theories in the culture of 18th century Europe.