Drie turfschepen met roeiboten in het IJ c. 1910 - 1911

Willem Witsen made this etching, "Three Turf Ships with Rowing Boats in the IJ," sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s a scene of working boats on the IJ, the waterway that defines Amsterdam’s waterfront. Witsen belonged to a group of Dutch artists who came of age in a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization. His work shows a fascination with the changing urban landscape and the lives of ordinary people. This piece is a good example: note the contrast between the solid, functional ships and the soft, atmospheric rendering of the water and sky. It seems he’s not just showing us the boats, but also hinting at the atmosphere of a bustling port city. To understand the print fully, we can look into the history of Amsterdam's harbor and the lives of the people who worked on these turf ships. Prints and etchings like this one were often made for a growing middle class art market, one that was keenly interested in images of Dutch national identity and culture. Researching that market can tell us a great deal about what this image meant to its first viewers.