Eend, hangend aan een touw 1775 - 1833

Jean Bernard made this drawing of a duck hanging from a rope sometime before 1833, using graphite on paper. Bernard lived through the Batavian Republic and the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland. During this time, naturalism emerged as a dominant mode of representation, reflecting the era’s shifting views of nature and humanity’s place within it. The duck here is not idealized; its limp body, suspended by a string, presents death with a stark, unromantic gaze. Drawings like this reveal a culture grappling with its understanding of the natural world, caught between scientific observation and the everyday reality of sustenance and survival. The image evokes questions about consumption, and humanity’s relationship with other living beings. What does it mean to depict a creature so devoid of life, and what emotions does it stir within us? The drawing serves not just as a record, but as an invitation to contemplate these complex relationships.