Venster met gordijnen 1832 - 1877

This print, titled ‘Venster met gordijnen’ or ‘Window with curtains’ in English, was made anonymously, using what looks like a combination of engraving and hand-colouring. Notice how much work has gone into creating the illusion of textile textures – the soft drape of the blue fabric, the delicate filigree of the lace, and the shimmer of the tassels. All this, achieved through a laborious process of incising lines into a metal plate, inking it, and then pressing it onto paper. Someone then had to painstakingly add colours by hand. The print probably comes from a catalogue, meant to showcase the latest fashions in interior decoration. What’s interesting to me is how it renders all that skilled labor invisible, focusing instead on the aspirational image of bourgeois domesticity. We might do well to remember the many hands that would have been involved in the actual making of such curtains, from the weaving of the cloth to the intricate sewing of the trimmings. It’s a reminder that even the most seemingly decorative objects have a deep connection to the world of labor, politics and consumption.