Loterij van Grootebroek, 1694 1694 - 1695

Curator: This is "Loterij van Grootebroek, 1694," an engraving by Cornelis Dusart here at the Rijksmuseum. What's your first impression? Editor: Utter chaos! Like a snapshot of absolute glee, except everyone looks just a little… tipsy. It's brimming with characters and bursting with an energy I can practically hear. Curator: Indeed! It captures a scene from a lottery announcement, a common public event in the Dutch Golden Age. These lotteries served not just as games of chance but as significant sources of revenue for local communities. Editor: Oh, interesting. It really feels like I’m stumbling into a real moment here. The light seems to dance on their faces and clothing… Curator: Dusart, who came from Haarlem, clearly sought to depict this excitement and frenzy. Look at how he used etching to emphasize particular textures—notice the detailing in clothing and even in facial expressions. The layering is superb for that effect, especially in a monochromatic work! Editor: He's definitely captured the kind of revelry where everything is just a bit too much – the raucousness and maybe the slight underlying anxiety about the odds, but mostly joyful optimism. It's infectious, like looking into a bygone party I desperately want an invite to! But do they always get this excited to hear about taxes? Curator: In a way, yes, public celebrations often coincided with important fiscal activities of a state; thus were integral aspects that unified both ruler and ruled with displays in communal cultural life, yes? Consider the lottery’s success in generating revenue at this time. By attending these festive announcements, people reaffirmed the social structure while expressing excitement with art itself playing a mediating, even conciliatory, role. Editor: Ah, so art, like laughter, making hard pills taste a little sweeter. A lot more thought was put into these announcements than I previously considered. Looking at this engraving gives you a genuine understanding, rather than merely reading accounts about those experiences; to connect back with these scenes makes for some true history! Curator: Exactly, capturing the moment within this historical lens illustrates a vital link across many components regarding seventeenth century economic activity intertwined through cultural expression. It certainly offers viewers now, through Dusart's skillful craft, a better vantage point. Editor: Absolutely. What began for me as some humorous observation shifted significantly by having that background knowledge. Suddenly I see it all now from those people's places, inside the happening, so vivid due entirely in due through this work that speaks even centuries after it came.