Paard in een landschap 1666

Cornelis Saftleven made this drawing of a horse in a landscape using pen and brown ink, with a grey wash. In the Dutch Golden Age, the rising merchant class fueled a demand for art that reflected their world. While history painting and portraits of the elite were popular, so too were scenes of everyday life and the natural world. Saftleven, working in Rotterdam, captured this shift by focusing on the depiction of animals and rural settings. The drawing gives us a direct, unidealized view of the animal. Consider how the geography of the Netherlands, with its dependence on animal power for agriculture and transport, might have shaped the cultural perception and valuation of animals. Artists like Saftleven were essential in shaping the cultural meaning of the natural world. To understand this work fully, we can consult period documents, such as estate inventories, guild records, and travel writing to better understand the world in which the artist lived.