Deur met lege omlijsting Possibly 1726 - 1765

This is an engraving of a door with an empty frame, made by an anonymous artist. We might consider this image a demonstration of the politics of imagery. The fine architectural detailing reflects the values of a specific social class in Northern Europe, sometime after 1700. The door, of course, is not really a door, but a representation of one. The wall, the decorations, and the framed landscape all suggest the kind of refinement aspired to by merchants and nobles. But the blank frame over the door suggests that something is missing. Is it the place of the artist to fill it? Or the owner of the house? These kinds of images are not just aesthetic objects; they are documents of social and cultural history. By researching similar images and the social conditions of their creation, we can better understand the values and assumptions of the people who made and consumed them.