Gezicht op de tabaksplantage en het lazarushuis bij Amersfoort 1760

Paulus van Liender created this print of a tobacco plantation and the leper house near Amersfoort in the eighteenth century. During this time, tobacco cultivation was a significant economic activity in the Netherlands, deeply entangled with the nation's colonial practices. Here, we see the plantation not merely as a site of agricultural production, but also as a landscape marked by the labor of enslaved peoples and the exploitation of resources extracted from colonized lands. The presence of the leper house, or "lazarushuis," adds another layer to the narrative, as these institutions often housed individuals marginalized by society due to illness or poverty. This image prompts us to reflect on the social hierarchies and moral complexities inherent in the Dutch Golden Age. By juxtaposing the image of prosperity with symbols of disease and marginalization, van Liender invites us to consider the human cost of economic success and the ethical dilemmas of a society built on exploitation.