Straatgezicht met verkoper van gevogelte

Adrien Joseph Verhoeven-Ball created this etching, titled "Street View with Poultry Vendor," in the mid-19th century. The composition, articulated in delicate lines, presents a tableau of everyday life. We see a vendor and his pony in what appears to be a busy village square. Verhoeven-Ball’s manipulation of line and form creates a narrative that is at once detailed and dreamlike. The artist uses hatching and cross-hatching to evoke form and texture. Note how the lines around the buildings have a geometric quality that contrasts the free-flowing lines of the tree. The figures of the vendor, the seated woman and the pony create a hierarchy of subjects, structured by a certain gaze and pose, hinting at the power dynamics of commerce and class. In semiotic terms, the pony, laden with goods, functions as a signifier of trade. But, the unattended dog hints at something more than just market day.