Melkmeisje 1793

Editor: This is "Melkmeisje" from 1793, made with watercolor by Abraham Delfos. It has a wonderfully calm mood; I feel instantly transported to the countryside. What stands out to you the most when you look at it? Curator: Immediately, I see a watercolor responding to the Neoclassical interest in genre painting and landscape. Delfos is not simply depicting a scene, he is constructing a commentary on labor and rural life. Look closely at the materiality of the work: watercolor on paper, readily available and relatively inexpensive. It speaks to a burgeoning market for images that idealized labor and the everyday. Editor: So, you're saying the choice of materials reveals something about the painting's purpose and audience? Curator: Precisely! Delfos used accessible materials to create images for a society that was eager to consume romanticized depictions of the Dutch countryside. And think about what genre painting represents: a breakdown between traditional 'high' and 'low' subjects for art. Editor: I never thought about it that way. The landscape feels almost too serene to be about labor. Curator: And isn't that fascinating? What is left unsaid through this idealization of agricultural work? Notice, the watercolor allows for a level of detail - the individual hairs on the cows - that gives this imagined place, its material truth. We need to critically assess, however, the romantic image that it gives us, of labor. Editor: So much to think about regarding production and presentation. I am keen to look closer at materials and challenge the meaning of seemingly serene scenes. Curator: Indeed. Paying attention to materiality challenges conventional thinking on consumption and context while broadening our definitions of what might seem as simple genre.