Lijkstoet 1778 - 1785

Curator: This etching, “Lijkstoet,” or “Funeral Procession,” comes to us from Noach van der Meer the Younger, dating from around 1778 to 1785. The medium is printmaking – a rather stark and detailed line engraving really. Editor: My immediate sense is somber, yet there's a strangely peaceful feeling in the landscape behind the procession. A very particular, yet universal scene of grief, wouldn’t you say? Curator: It does strike that balance. The focus on labor here—the physical act of carrying the deceased—is so central. Etching and engraving were essential for disseminating imagery, essentially a democratic technology to a much wider population at the time, not least in recording customs and habits of social strata like these rural figures Editor: The figures carrying the coffin seem burdened, literally weighed down, mirroring perhaps the emotional weight of the occasion, the banality of hard labor present even here? What’s curious to me, however, is how stylized it all still feels. The almost formulaic poses… It takes the immediacy away somewhat. Curator: I think that distance you describe might also come from the conventions of genre-painting at the time—attempting realism but firmly within the stylistic demands and sensibilities of late baroque. What do you make of the landscape framing the figures, particularly those background details such as the windmill? Editor: Those hints of progress and civilization contrast sharply with the rustic grief on display. It adds to a sense of historical document to my eye, which gives “Lijkstoet” a curious staying power, the details of the coffin, of the pallbearers clothing become potent historical artifacts to be dissected. Curator: Absolutely. And perhaps its strength resides in capturing both— the weighty reality of manual labor and loss rendered through this somewhat detached artistic lens that gives both an intimate and informative snapshot of its time. Thank you for joining me. Editor: It’s a somber snapshot, indeed, prompting one to contemplate the various layers of creation and interpretation that make such a work relevant even now.