Ontvangst van post door een postbode te paard after 1666

Joost van Geel made this print of a horse-bound postal worker delivering correspondence, likely in the Netherlands, sometime in the mid- to late-seventeenth century. It was a period when efficient postal service was becoming more and more crucial to global trade networks. The print offers a valuable glimpse into the infrastructure that made it possible. Here, the exchange of letters takes place on the water; it makes us think about waterways, harbors, and boats as key elements within the circulatory system of commerce and communication. In the distance, we can see a skyline of buildings which would have played an important role within that system. To understand the impact of art like this on society, we need to turn to various historical documents. We might look at maps, commercial records, postal service archives, or city plans. All of these resources can help us to understand the place of art within the culture that produced it.