Landschap met een visser 1748 - 1806

Edward Edwards made this etching called *Landscape with a Fisherman.* Edwards was an English artist and author, who lived in a time when the genre of landscape painting was tied up with ideas about national identity and ownership. The lone figure of the fisherman gives an insight into the changing social landscape. Here, the fisherman could be seen as embodying a kind of freedom, living outside the constraints of urban life. But also, he is defined by labor, a worker in nature. The image speaks to the realities of rural life, where individuals were deeply connected to the natural world for their livelihoods. The small scale of the print and the humble subject matter democratizes artistic expression by focusing on the everyday experiences of ordinary people. The quiet intimacy of this piece leaves us to consider our own relationship to nature, and perhaps, to long for a simpler existence.