Vrouw met kind op landweg 1778 - 1838

Anthonie van den Bos created this etching, "Woman with Child on a Country Road", sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century in the Netherlands. It depicts a mother and child walking along a path, a humble scene of rural life in that period. The image speaks to the era's prevailing social structures and the romanticized view of the countryside. During this time, there was a growing interest in the lives of ordinary people and the landscapes they inhabited. The etching aestheticizes the rural setting through compositional choices, such as the framing of the mother and child and the soft lighting. It perhaps comments on the growing urbanization, and idealizes the perceived simplicity of country life. Understanding the social and institutional context of this work requires delving into the economic conditions of the Netherlands at the time, the changing attitudes toward nature and the peasant class, and the art market that catered to these interests. The artwork is contingent on the socio-economic context. We may use historical archives, journals and literature of the period.