Landscape with a Cow Drinking 1645 - 1655

Rembrandt van Rijn created this etching, Landscape with a Cow Drinking, in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century, a period known as the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt was an acute observer of Dutch society, and his landscapes often reflect the intricate relationship between the people and the land. In this image, the cow, a symbol of rural life and agricultural wealth, takes center stage. The buildings are modest and sturdy, which might reflect the values of hard work and self-reliance prominent in Dutch culture at the time. Note the landscape's flatness, which evokes the geographical realities of the Netherlands and its ongoing battle against the sea. This kind of apparently 'simple' scene is loaded with information for the social historian. Contemporary land surveys, tax records, and even literature could further illuminate the economic and cultural significance of such a seemingly mundane rural scene in the 17th-century Netherlands.