Zittende man op een stoel met steek c. 1790s

This drawing was made anonymously with pen and gray ink and gray wash. It depicts a man seated on a chair with a 'steek', or bicorne hat. In the late 18th century, fashion indicated social standing, and here the subject is clearly middle class or higher. The bicorne hat was originally practical, the two points acting as gutters for rain. By this period, however, it had become a purely fashionable item. It's interesting to note the subject's casual pose, leaning back in his chair, as though he has the leisure time to be represented in this way. This image, like many from the period, can tell us a lot about the time it was made. By looking into costume history, social documents, and economic surveys, we can begin to reconstruct the context that shaped its production. Art like this is not made in a vacuum: it reflects and refracts the conditions of its making.