Leraar met twee leerlingen after 1851

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to this compelling drawing, “Leraar met twee leerlingen,” or “Teacher with Two Students,” created by Carel Christiaan Antony Last, sometime after 1851. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first thought is its fragmentary nature. It feels like a series of quick sketches, almost a contact sheet of moments. There's a distinct lack of clear boundaries; figures overlap and bleed into one another, which actually brings this work alive. Curator: Exactly. While presented as a single image, the artist gives us glimpses into varied narratives and scenes. Note how the central teacher-student group takes precedence, rendered with more detail using ink on paper, but how they interact with all these surrounding sketches? Is the artist implying connections between formal education and industrial expansion? Look at the steam train tucked over to the side, and laborers pictured using tools. Editor: Interesting. Are we perhaps looking at commentary on class and opportunity, even on social mobility, via a rising access to knowledge? Education has historically been a gatekeeper, hasn't it, determining who can climb the socio-economic ladder? It might also represent that this “troep kowijnen”, troop of kowijnen. Kowijnen is a term in some parts of the Netherlands, roughly meaning “rascals”. Perhaps the teacher has to learn to educate very differently based on the diversity in social strata? Curator: Indeed. We must also acknowledge that museums themselves have participated in shaping, and yes, at times even limiting the stories being told through their collection, especially relating to marginalised figures of the 19th century. This illustration serves to represent society as a collage. Its sketches challenge fixed interpretations, thereby opening spaces for alternative narratives. Editor: That really deepens my understanding. Before, I was caught up in its aesthetic and intimate composition. I was struck by how modern Last's take is given that education continues to evolve as more members of different social classes receive the right to attend school, opening it to everyone from the “groot en klein.” Now I recognize its role within socio-political narratives of identity that are happening to this day! Curator: A piece that really demands close observation, its seemingly loose sketches containing so much critical intent regarding history.