Koppermaandag met leprozenoptocht te Amsterdam, 1604 1769

Editor: This etching from 1769, after an earlier depiction by Simon Fokke, is titled "Koppermaandag met leprozenoptocht te Amsterdam, 1604," or "Copper Monday with a leper procession in Amsterdam." It looks like it represents a bustling cityscape scene. What can you tell me about it? Curator: This image, while seemingly documenting a historical event, demands that we investigate its socio-political context. The leper procession wasn't simply a quaint tradition. Consider who is being paraded, and who is watching. Is this depiction empowering or exploitative? How might power dynamics have shaped this event, and how are they reinforced in this visual record? Editor: That's a fascinating way to look at it. So, it's less about historical accuracy and more about the statement it makes? Curator: Exactly. It's a performance. Who has the power to represent whom? The etching was made long after the event took place, so we have to ask about its reception during the 18th century, during the Dutch Golden Age. What message was Simon Fokke, a relatively successful artist at the time, conveying, and to what end? It could be said this parade provided a stage on which societal anxieties around health, morality, and difference were played out. Editor: Wow, I didn't think of it that way at all. So even seemingly innocuous images can have complex layers of meaning related to power and representation. Curator: Precisely! It forces us to question not just what we see, but why, and for whom. Looking at this through the lens of disability studies reveals the way that society and historical artwork treated, and perhaps still see people with any handicap. Editor: This has definitely given me a new way to examine historical artworks. Thank you.