Landschap met oever van een rivier 1670 - 1682

Melchior Küsel created this landscape with a riverbank as an etching sometime in the 17th century. This print offers a glimpse into the cultural values of the Dutch Golden Age. The Dutch Republic saw a rising merchant class who found beauty in everyday scenes, a shift away from the religious and aristocratic subject matter of the past. Küsel's detailed rendering of the natural world caters to this new appreciation for the familiar. Made during the Dutch Golden Age, this work reflects the era's artistic innovation and economic prosperity. Artists were freed from traditional patronage and produced art for the open market. This etching, with its mass-producible form, speaks to the democratization of art and the growth of a consumer culture in the Netherlands. By studying such images and their contexts, we can better understand the social values that shaped artistic production. Through careful research of historical documents, we can decipher the complex relationship between art and society.