Vaandrig, delen van een stoel, een zoutvat en een glas 1782 - 1837

Editor: This intriguing sketch, "Vaandrig, delen van een stoel, een zoutvat en een glas" by Pieter Bartholomeusz. Barbiers, dating from 1782 to 1837, features everyday objects alongside a figure, almost like studies on a page. It has this off-the-cuff quality... How do you interpret this work? Curator: Well, this work speaks to me about the intersection of the everyday and the monumental, the private and the public. It looks like an initial sketch. The Dutch Golden Age was a period wrestling with newfound independence and a shifting social order. The “Vaandrig” or standard-bearer would have had a very visible role during political assemblies or local civic guard parades, which embodied local political expression in this new period of social enfranchisement. What kind of commentary might Barbiers be trying to make by drawing that historical figure alongside pieces of furniture? Editor: It’s interesting that you highlight the political dimensions. It wasn’t necessarily my first thought, but now the seemingly random collection makes more sense! So perhaps juxtaposing them in this way offers some subtle commentary on the place of those figures in contemporary Dutch society? Curator: Precisely. It encourages us to consider whose stories are being told, and how those stories relate to power structures of the era, the objects reflecting the everyday lived reality as a reminder of what those political changes affected, or rather, didn't affect. Does this way of looking at the piece spark other thoughts in you? Editor: I guess thinking about art as less about aesthetics, and more about the power and the society... It definitely pushes me to consider beyond just the visual and stylistic elements. I am glad to have a chance to think more about the place and purpose that sketches have had for people and movements.