Buurtschap De Baarsjes 1881

Elias Stark created this etching, Buurtschap De Baarsjes, using line and tone to represent the watery landscape of this district of Amsterdam. The image summons the cultural identity of the Netherlands, a landscape of canals, windmills and boats, built around water and the power harnessed from wind. By the late 19th century, the time in which Stark was active, the image of the lowlands had become a brand, exploited by the tourist industry. While this appears to be a simple landscape, we must look into the institutional and economic forces that shaped it. Land reclamation schemes had begun to reshape the area from the 17th century. Windmills were essential to this project. This print, then, represents a landscape under construction, a negotiation between human intervention and natural forces. To truly understand this image, we need to draw on multiple sources, from maps of land reclamation projects to tourist brochures. Only then can we understand this work as a cultural artifact.