Wandelend boerenpaar 1646 - 1941

Adriaen van Ostade created this etching, *Wandelend boerenpaar*, during the Dutch Golden Age, a period of immense economic and cultural growth for the Netherlands. But this etching also offers a glimpse into the lives of the peasantry, a class often overlooked in the grand narratives of the time. Ostade, who spent his life painting genre scenes of peasant life, shows us a man and woman in simple clothing with heavy shawls and a tall cap, perhaps indicative of regional or occupational identity. They appear to be in conversation. But what is not revealed is whether this an exchange between equals or a reflection of the social hierarchies. Such works invite us to consider the labor and the material conditions of the working class and how they sustained the economic prosperity of the Golden Age. It encourages us to think about the ways in which art can both reflect and shape societal perceptions of class, gender, and identity.