Maskerade van de Leidse studenten, 1875 (plaat 6) 1875

Curator: Here we have Gerardus Johannes Bos’s “Maskerade van de Leidse studenten, 1875 (plaat 6)”, which translates to “Masquerade of the Leiden Students, 1875 (plate 6),” currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It's a rather processional watercolor illustration. What springs to mind for you? Editor: It feels incredibly... theatrical. A wistful recreation of some bygone chivalrous order, softened and perhaps made absurd through the gentle transparency of watercolor. Look at those elaborate helmets, almost cartoonish, against the solemn faces. It's a bit melancholic, don't you think? Curator: Indeed. Considering its period, and focusing on materiality, you have these student societies actively creating elaborate costumes, constructing a shared identity, then commissioning, perhaps even producing within their ranks, these types of genre and history-painting to celebrate that experience. Editor: Yes, it almost certainly speaks to a constructed historical narrative. All of that pageantry feels slightly...forced. It makes me wonder about the societal pressures, what the students themselves felt participating in it. Curator: I agree, especially given that the artist himself likely had ties to this specific student culture and his production, based on available data, fits perfectly within it. Did Bos seek to reinforce the legitimacy of the universities or maybe satirize it slightly? The answer probably lives in the material evidence around the commissioned plate more than its pure aesthetic qualities. Editor: Precisely! There's that tension again, a wink and a nod within the staid form. The watercolor's lightness also contributes; these aren't granite heroes, but rather delicate projections. It almost renders them ghosts on parade. Curator: Thinking about what the availability of this color pigment would indicate and the economic production model of making student illustrations at this period gives a good sense of just what part this material culture occupied during that era. Editor: It is so evocative; the materiality feels particularly apt. The artwork becomes a mask layered with the student identity. The historical reimagining presented as lighthearted entertainment, of course, but still resonating with cultural anxieties around legitimacy. A very pretty, poignant plate! Curator: Indeed! Thinking about that cultural framework really shifts what the work represents from surface spectacle to something much more grounded.