Boerderij met duiventil 1620

Curator: This is "Boerderij met duiventil," or "Farmhouse with a Dovecote," an etching dating back to 1620 by Claes Jansz. Visscher, housed right here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: The scene almost leaps off the page despite the old-paper effect and sketch-like quality. There’s so much activity! Curator: Absolutely. Consider Visscher’s socio-political context; the Dutch Golden Age was dawning. Landscape art reflected a rising national pride, often intertwined with class and land ownership. It projects ideals of domestic life in counterpoint to growing cities. How does the construction and labour represented relate? Editor: You see it in the figures: one carries what looks like lumber, another leans near the ground and is engaged in a form of labour too; each contributes to a social network surrounding that Dovecote which surely required maintenance. Also, the white farm cow and chickens show animal husbandry too. Curator: Precisely! Beyond simply recording what's there, Visscher is constructing a narrative about rural labour, its benefits and participants. The Dovecote itself becomes symbolic. To further complicate this: a sketch emphasizes production. Editor: In terms of process, the precision is quite remarkable. The clear depiction of material details— the weathered wood of the dovecote, the layers of brick in the main building – is remarkable for what appears to be just a casual, observational etching. It draws our eye toward the labour implied in both creating and maintaining all that we can see, adding to its historical meaning. Curator: Visscher is commenting on rural societal structures through labor division, offering insights into wealth and gender dynamics. Think, too, of the etching process: from conception to distribution, it also involved a labour force we rarely consider. Editor: So the image itself is deeply embedded in its own means of production and that further enriches how we perceive the chosen content. Well, now I won’t be able to look at a landscape print the same way again. Curator: Good. Sometimes all we need is a lens to view these artworks in all their wonderful complexity!