Melkmeisje bij de poort van een boerderij 1778 - 1838

Anthonie van den Bos created this print, "Milkmaid at the gate of a farm," at the turn of the 19th century in the Netherlands. The image captures a bucolic scene: a milkmaid heading towards a farmyard. The Netherlands in the late 1700s was a society with a strong mercantile class, but it was still largely dependent on agriculture. There was a growing interest in the countryside that coincided with an increasingly urban population. The image reflects a nostalgic view of rural life, with its depiction of the hardworking milkmaid set against a backdrop of rustic buildings. It also speaks to a Dutch artistic tradition of genre painting: that is, scenes of everyday life. The image has an attention to detail that we might also find in artists such as Jan Steen or Pieter de Hooch. In studying this print, scholars consider the social and economic structures that shaped Dutch society at the time and how art played a role in reflecting, and sometimes idealizing, those structures.