Mannen en vrouwen rond een tafel in een tuin 1751 - 1816

Reinier Vinkeles made this print, "Men and women around a table in a garden," with etching, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. It shows a tea party of sorts, and the setting is a well-manicured garden. Tea parties like this one in the Netherlands and other European countries became important social rituals during this time. They were also ways of demonstrating wealth and refinement. Tea itself, and the fine porcelain used to serve it, were luxury goods that demonstrated the owner's participation in global trade networks. So, in this image, Vinkeles presents us with a snapshot of the culture of the elites. Prints like this one circulated in the illustrated press, and also as framed works in the home. It shows that the Dutch were keen to represent and share this elite vision of themselves. To understand the print better, we might look at magazines and newspapers from the period or examine inventories of household goods. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.