Instituut voor Landbouwkundige Opvoeding te Wateren, 1823 1825 - 1835

This print from 1823 by Hilaire Antoine Kreins depicts the Instituut voor Landbouwkundige Opvoeding te Wateren, an agricultural education institute in the Netherlands. Look at the composition of the image, with its symmetrical layout, the tidy landscaping and the small figure walking towards us, all of these are visual clues of how agricultural education was perceived at the time. The founding of the institute in 1822, and the making of this print, came at a time of agricultural reform in the Netherlands, in which the Dutch government encouraged scientific methods to increase productivity. Art played a crucial role in visually promoting these ideas. We could research archives to better understand the image and how this institution played a wider cultural role. Kreins' print is a fascinating document, it gives a glimpse into the institutional history of agricultural science, and the social conditions that drove the demand for it.