Bos met geitje 1883 - 1888

Matthijs Maris made this etching, "Bos met geitje," or "Wood with goat," without providing a date. The landscape is thickly rendered in dark strokes, evoking a dense forest, and a small goat can be seen in the center. This work fits within a tradition of Dutch landscape painting that took hold in the 17th century, with artists such as Jacob van Ruisdael finding artistic and commercial success in the depiction of their local topography. By the 19th century, the rural landscape had become charged with political and cultural meaning. As the Netherlands industrialized and modernized, artists looked to the countryside as a repository of authentic values and national identity. Art historians make use of archival sources, such as exhibition reviews, sales records, and artists' correspondence, to reconstruct the original context and understand how the artwork was viewed and received. These factors can reveal the complex and dynamic interplay between art, society, and the institutions that shape them.