Ganzen met kuikentjes bij een beek 1708 - 1749

Peter Casteels the third created this image of geese and chicks by a stream in the first half of the 18th century. It's fascinating to consider the public role of an image like this, its politics, and the social conditions shaping its production. Casteels was Flemish, but he spent most of his career in England. The cultural context for this kind of image is the rise of a wealthy merchant class who enjoyed the leisure of rural estates and who saw agriculture as a source of national wealth. This wasn't just a personal expression of the artist, it was a commercial print. It would have been sold in London print shops in bound collections or as a single sheet. Its purpose was to decorate the homes of the rising middle classes with idealized images of country life. As historians, we must remember that art isn't created in a vacuum. It's vital that we consider the artist's biography, the market for which it was created, and the cultural and economic context of its reception.