Prentverkoper met een viool onder zijn arm Possibly 1847

This print, ‘Prentverkoper met een viool onder zijn arm’, features a street vendor, likely from around 1847, judging by the print date at the top. He gestures towards the prints for sale behind him while carrying a violin. The pointing gesture here is particularly striking. In antiquity, this was the 'index finger' of rhetoric, an act that was passed down through medieval art as the gesture of the divine. Here, however, it is used by a commoner who wants to sell his ware, and who has a clear connection to music through the violin. This combination is evocative: While the sacred act of pointing has been democratized, its emotional power to direct our attention remains. The echo of classical art is there, showing us how symbols persist and evolve, shaped by collective memory in the theatre of our minds.