Rotslandschap after 1635

Frederick Bloemaert made this landscape etching on paper in the Netherlands sometime in the 17th century. Here we see a craggy rock face jutting up in front of what may be a mountain range in the distance. At this time, the Dutch Republic had become a dominant force in international trade, enabling a prosperous merchant class to develop a taste for landscape paintings. Many artists responded by producing idealized images of the local countryside, celebrating its natural beauty. Bloemaert here seems to draw on an older, more dramatic visual vocabulary of rocky precipices and desolate vistas, perhaps influenced by contemporary Flemish art. The Rijksmuseum's object files on this and similar images offer a great deal more detail. Careful art historical research can help us understand this landscape in light of the artist’s career and the artistic conventions of the time.