The Castle 1611 - 1621

Jan van de Velde II created this detailed etching of "The Castle," capturing a slice of 17th-century Dutch life. Born in the Netherlands, Van de Velde was working during the Dutch Golden Age, a period marked by unprecedented economic prosperity, global trade, and cultural flourishing. Notice how the castle, with its imposing towers and surrounding moat, reflects not just wealth but also power and security in a rapidly changing world. The detailed rendering of the landscape—the figures walking along the road, the swans gliding on the water—hints at the burgeoning merchant class and the significance of land ownership and trade. How might this image reflect the complex social structures of the time? Van de Velde invites us to reflect on the layered meanings of place and property in the shaping of identity and community. Through this etching, we are drawn into the everyday realities and aspirations of a society on the cusp of modernity.