Gezicht op de tuin van de buitenplaats Boom en Bosch bij Breukelen 1790

Daniël Stopendaal created this print of the Boom en Bosch estate near Breukelen, using etching and engraving techniques. These processes, involving acid and sharp tools to incise lines into a metal plate, allowed for detailed replication. The material quality of the print itself—the paper, the ink—speaks to a culture of burgeoning industry. Consider the labor involved in its production. From the making of the paper to the skilled handiwork of the engraver, this image is a product of many hands, and of an economy increasingly based on distribution and consumption. But what of the scene depicted? A highly manicured garden, complete with terraces. This is landscape as luxury item, enabled by wealth and power. The print, therefore, becomes a kind of advertisement, showing the cultivated leisure of the upper class. The image invites us to consider how aesthetics are always entwined with social realities.