Vrouw met kan in het venster 1752 - 1771

This print, *Woman with a Jug in the Window,* was made by Robbert Muys in the late 18th century. Muys worked with engraving, a method involving sharp tools to incise lines into a metal plate, which is then inked and printed. The character of this technique—its crispness and precision—defines the image. See how the cross-hatching is used to describe shadow and volume. The artist’s labor is palpable, evident in every stroke. The choice of subject matter reinforces this sense of the everyday made exceptional. A woman is depicted at a window with a metal jug. Her station is not immediately clear, she may be a maidservant, her action part of the labor of a household. The treatment of her face and the surrounding space elevates this quotidian moment. It asks us to find artistic value not only in traditional art, but also in the lives and labor of everyday people.