Vijf mannen die een zwaar voorwerp uit een kelder trekken Possibly 1633

Gerard ter Borch II made this pen and brown ink drawing, "Five Men Pulling a Heavy Object from a Cellar," sometime in the 17th century. At first glance, it’s a simple scene of labor, but the context of the Dutch Golden Age, when the Netherlands experienced unprecedented economic and cultural growth, complicates it. Was ter Borch commenting on the social structures of his time? The etching depicts a menial labor task and evokes questions of commerce and class. The Dutch Republic was one of the first capitalist economies. Art became a commodity and its institutions helped to shape and were shaped by these new economic realities. The Rijksmuseum, where this work is housed, is itself an institution whose history reflects changing attitudes towards Dutch art and national identity. Understanding the social conditions of artistic production requires attention to economic structures, class relations, and institutional histories. Exploring these can reveal how artists, like ter Borch, engaged with the world around them.