Drie voorstellingen met kleding voor dames en heren 1780

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki made this print of clothing for ladies and gentlemen using etching, a printmaking technique where metal is incised with acid to create an image. Here, line work is the critical element; it establishes silhouettes and conveys surface textures, from lace to linen. Consider all the labor, material, and skill that went into the depicted garments themselves. Clothing in the 1700s wasn’t just about personal expression, but also an indicator of social class. These are the clothes of the bourgeoisie; the artist, also a bourgeois, renders their attire carefully. This print acted as a kind of paper sample book; but more than that, it testifies to the tight relationship between the graphic arts, the fashion system, and the rise of modern consumer culture. It helps us to understand how these clothes, and the social codes they expressed, came into being.