Yonker Ramp and his Sweetheart is of a different order. Culturally there are a myriad of intersections we may address considering history and the fate of the world as we know it. Point is, we are here in the contemporary landscape of communication. I found the image by Frans Hals in seconds. The memory of the painting announced itself to me and our collective technological ability helped me find it.
Why is it of a different order? The activity of the Dutch of the early Baroque period may be explained— “But, the greatest change in the market was the dramatic increase in the popularity of landscapes, still-lifes, and scenes of everyday life (known as genre painting). Indeed, the proliferation of these subjects as independent artistic genres was one of the 17th century’s most significant contributions to the history of Western art.” (Camara)
Why else is it of a different order? Given my opening statement, the painting addresses the changes of communication we may take for granted now. The image has agency. Agency, consent, self-definition, are concepts employed in contemporary culture and this painting of 400 years ago heralds the direction. Of course one may note contradictions as to the freedoms we acknowledge, yet any one interacting here is doing so via satellite. We have some measure of choice and communicate in space.
My most prominent observation of this painting, which I have viewed in person many times, is the forward gaze of the woman. She looks at us. Is she happy? Yes. Her persona expresses the fun she has with the Man, Yonker Ramp, as the figure has been known.
Her gaze says so much. It is a modern painting. I contend celebrated freedoms led culture in a direction of thought to international recognition of, “Pursuit of Happiness”. The painting exhibits joy, and perhaps, the debauchery of drink. He raises his glass and holds the dog’s head in his other hand—my interpretation is the beastly sense of being a man. The woman enjoys him in his full sense of life, hence the sensibility of agency—-a timely idea.
In an art survey course I asked my class if Rodin’s marble, The Kiss, was pornography. The conversation developed concerning art and pornography. A young woman in the class stated, “She looks like she wants to be there.”
By Drew Burgess
Drew Burgess is an art professor at the College of Alameda of the Peralta Community College District of California.
Citations:
Dr. Esperança Camara, "Baroque art, an introduction," in Smarthistory, June 9, 2015, accessed December 8, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/a-beginners-guide-to-baroque-art/.
August Rodin, The Kiss 1901-04, Tate Modern, London, accessed 12-8-24, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rodin-the-kiss-n06228
Cite this page:
Drew Burgess, “Young Man and Woman in an Inn (Yonker Ramp and his Sweetheart), December 8, 2024, https://www.drewburgess.art/museum-visits/frans-hals-young-man-and-woman-in-an-inn
Frans Hals, Young Man and Woman in an Inn, 1623, Oil on Canvas, 41 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, Bequest of Benjamin Altman 1913, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 14.40.602—DETAIL