Man met kist op de schouder Possibly 1808

Anthonie Willem Hendrik Nolthenius de Man created this etching, entitled ‘Man met kist op de schouder’, at an unknown date. The man depicted carrying a chest appears to be a labourer, perhaps even a refugee. He’s wearing wooden shoes known as ‘klompen’, which were commonly worn by the working classes in the Netherlands. We can assume that the chest contains all his worldly possessions and that he is displaced from his home. It’s important to remember that during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Netherlands was undergoing significant political and economic upheaval. As such, this image may be a reflection of those times. We might consider, for example, how social class and economic structures influenced the artist, who was from a wealthy family, in his depiction of this subject. Historians researching this image might seek to understand the history of poverty and migration in the Netherlands, drawing on sources such as census records, poorhouse records, and contemporary accounts. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.