Boeren en vee bij een boerenwagen 1633 - 1672

Govert Dircksz. Camphuysen created this drawing, "Boeren en vee bij een boerenwagen," sometime between 1648 and 1672 using pen in brown and gray. Camphuysen’s work captures the rural life of the Dutch Golden Age, a period marked by significant economic prosperity and social change. Here, we see figures in a bucolic scene, seemingly simple, yet charged with the complex dynamics of the time. The depiction of labor, with figures tending to the animals and cart, highlights the agrarian base of Dutch society. Note the clothing of the people depicted, the woman carrying buckets seems to be of a different status to those on the cart, indicating a degree of societal stratification. Camphuysen invites us to reflect on our relationship with the land, labor, and each other, in a world where the echoes of the past still resonate in the present. This work asks us to consider the stories we tell ourselves about progress, and at whose expense that progress comes.