Figuurstudie van een vrouw in klassiek gewaad, bukkend 1777

Hendrik Hoogers made this figure study of a woman in classical robes with chalk on paper. The woman’s garb situates the work within a broader late-18th-century European cultural interest in classical antiquity, but it also participates in contemporary debates about the role of women in society. Looking at the image, we see that the woman is bending over, looking down. Her actions and downcast gaze seem to speak to the perceived lower social status of women during this period. While it is difficult to place an exact date on the work, the artist lived through a period of great social upheaval, including the French Revolution, and the Batavian Revolution in his native Netherlands, and scholars should examine his other works and the history of the Rijksmuseum, where this drawing is now held, to better understand its place in the history of European social change.