Vijver met een tempel en een harkende man 1788 - 1849

Johan Christiaan Willem Safft created this print, "Pond with a Temple and a Raking Man," with etching. The image offers a window onto the aesthetic values of late 18th- or early 19th-century Dutch society. The composition reveals a fascination with the picturesque. We see this in the Claudian framing of the central scene in an oval shape, as well as the classical temple and the figure of a laborer raking near the pond. This interest reflected a wider European tendency to frame nature as aesthetically pleasing. The Dutch elite, who could afford such scenes in their homes, were very interested in picturesque landscape imagery. To further explore this work, one might investigate garden design and the ways they were recorded visually. In doing so, we can better understand the social conditions that shape artistic production. By considering the tastes and preferences of collectors, we start to understand the power of art to reproduce existing social norms.