Bosgezicht met afgebroken boom 1619 - 1690

Anthonie Waterloo made this landscape, titled “Wooded Landscape with a Broken Tree,” sometime in the 17th century, using pen, brush, and gray ink. We know that landscape as a genre became very popular in the Netherlands during the 1600s. It’s interesting to wonder why. This was a period of great prosperity. The Dutch East India company was expanding trade routes across the globe, but this prosperity was built on colonial exploitation abroad and increasingly stark class divisions at home. Here, Waterloo creates a quiet, peaceful, and somewhat melancholy scene. We see the broken tree of the title, some other towering trees, and in the distance, it seems, a humble dwelling. Might this image reflect on a changing social and economic landscape? What kinds of idylls and fantasies did it offer its first viewers? To answer such questions, scholars look to historical documents, literature, and economic data. The meaning of a work of art depends on the context in which it was made.