Kudde schapen en geiten bij een plas 1828 - 1831

Editor: So, here we have Frédéric Théodore Faber's "Kudde schapen en geiten bij een plas," created between 1828 and 1831. It’s an ink drawing currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It feels very pastoral and... well, quite detailed. What's your take on it? Curator: Immediately, the etching foregrounds labor and production. Consider the manual effort invested in producing the ink, and the craftsman-like approach in rendering each individual hair on the sheep. It pushes against the conventional artistic hierarchy of Faber's era. What statements about labor are being made here through such deliberate production methods? Editor: I hadn’t thought about that! It really does highlight the work involved, the way the individual animals are rendered and placed. It almost feels…documentary, in a way? Curator: Exactly. Rather than focusing solely on aesthetic pleasure or idealised pastoral scenes, Faber chooses to represent working animals, implying their economic value. This image becomes a document of rural labour in the early 19th century, the work etched into the print itself, making a very material comment about art production. It's not just an image of sheep; it's about how wealth is extracted from them through wool and milk. Editor: So it's a comment on value itself – the perceived versus the real value of art versus labour. It changes my entire interpretation of the scene! I thought it was simply representing nature, but it goes so much deeper than that. Curator: It is not simply a neutral record, it is constructed. Note the clear display of these livestock watering, and the watchful shepherd that implies economic transactions happening outside the confines of traditional fine art environments. Editor: I can see how Faber is highlighting the socioeconomic undercurrents, and using the artwork as a sort of...witness to labor. Thanks for helping me explore the materiality of the work.