Studieblad met bomen, figuren en karikaturale scènes 1839 - 1894

This sketch of trees, figures, and caricatures was made by Lambertus Lingeman in the Netherlands sometime in the mid-19th century. Lingeman's sketchbook page is filled with a variety of figures, from the realistic rendering of the tree to the right, to the caricatured faces above. Here we see the world through the eyes of a 19th-century Dutch artist, as filtered through the lens of social observation and caricature. The juxtaposition of realistic and cartoonish figures raises questions about the artist's social commentary. Is Lingeman satirizing Dutch society? Perhaps we can look to period literature, newspapers, and political cartoons, to examine how such figures circulated in the popular imagination, and ask how institutions such as academies or printmakers' shops shaped his vision. The meaning of Lingeman's sketch is always contingent upon its historical context.