Zittende hond 1777

This is a brown ink drawing of a seated dog by Cornelis Brouwer, made in the Netherlands sometime in the latter half of the 18th century. In Dutch Golden Age painting of the previous century, dogs often appeared as symbols of fidelity and domesticity, or sometimes as emblems of the hunt. Brouwer was working in a period when Dutch art was in decline, but this informal sketch suggests new directions. The Rococo style, then in vogue in France, emphasized lightness, informality, and naturalism. Brouwer seems to be following this trend in his choice of subject matter and in the looseness of his drawing style. The institutional history here is one of a shift in artistic values away from the grand history painting and moralizing genre scenes of the previous century, toward more intimate and personal modes of expression. Art historians consult a wide range of sources, from archival documents to exhibition catalogues, in order to understand the social and cultural forces that shaped the production and reception of art in different periods. By understanding the context in which art was made, we can gain a deeper appreciation of its meaning and significance.