Man geeft een vrouw een handkus 1778

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki created this print, "Man giving a woman a hand kiss", sometime in the late 18th century, using etching. The image captures a scene of courtship in what seems to be Germany. A man bows deeply to kiss a woman's hand, a gesture loaded with social meaning. It represents the power dynamics of the time, where elaborate codes of conduct governed social interactions and expressed differences in social status. The print provides a window into the social rituals of the European elite, and can be read as a document of cultural norms. But was Chodowiecki celebrating these norms, or critiquing them? To answer this, art historians could look at other works by the artist, and study sources like etiquette manuals to understand the prevailing attitudes to courtship and gender roles during the late 1700s.