Vrouw met kind bij twee mannen 1758 - 1808

Christina Chalon rendered this watercolor of a woman with child and two men, sometime in the late eighteenth century. The image is not just paint, but also the paper underneath. Note how Chalon left the ground blank, allowing the off-white color to define the plane. Watercolor is a very intimate medium. Unlike oils, it does not allow for layering, so each brushstroke must be decisive. Also, it is water-based and so dries quickly. It’s perhaps because of this directness that women artists like Chalon were drawn to the medium, since they were often excluded from the more formally sanctioned world of oil painting. It is worth noting the skilled labor of paper making here too; from the rag-picking and pulping to the pressing and sizing, paper was a precious commodity in the 1700s. So this modest watercolor encapsulates a whole network of creative practices, from the high art of painting to the more humble realm of craft.