Fotoreproductie van een schilderij voorstellende Louise van Mecklenburg-Strelitz en Frederika van Mecklenburg-Strelitz bij de moeder van Johann Wolfgang von Goethe op een binnenplaats met een waterpomp before 1883

This anonymous photographic reproduction captures Louise and Frederika of Mecklenburg-Strelitz visiting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s mother. In this staged scene, the sisters, members of German royalty, are depicted drawing water at a courtyard pump, watched by Frau Goethe. The image reinforces the romantic idea of the ennobling peasant, familiar from 18th and 19th century visual culture. The staged meeting elevates the status of Goethe's mother through association with royalty, yet it also presents the princesses in an idealized, humble fashion. Who commissioned the image, and why? Was it made for a book, or a magazine? To understand this picture better, we need to research the networks of patronage and print culture that gave it meaning. The image shows us that meanings always depend on social and institutional contexts.