Drie op de grond slapende kinderen 1618 - 1655

Cornelis Schut made this etching, Three Children Sleeping on the Ground, in the Netherlands sometime in the first half of the 17th century. At this time, the Dutch Republic was at the height of its Golden Age, a period of unprecedented trade, scientific advancement, and artistic production. We can understand this image in light of a rise in the production of genre scenes, and the increasing popularity of images of everyday life. What does it mean that the mundane activity of children sleeping could be considered a worthy subject for art? Does it reflect a greater awareness of the realities of poverty and child labor? Or perhaps it simply speaks to a growing middle class with the leisure time and disposable income to purchase art for their homes. These kinds of questions are what social historians of art grapple with. By studying archival documents, economic data, and other cultural artifacts from the period, we can begin to understand the social conditions that shaped artistic production, and the ways in which art, in turn, reflected and shaped society.