Landschap met twee wandelaars 1613 - 1695

Nicolas Perelle made this print, "Landscape with Two Walkers," likely in France, sometime in the latter half of the 17th century. The scene, rendered in etching, depicts a landscape dominated by craggy rocks and full trees; the titular walkers are dwarfed by their surroundings. What did landscape mean at this moment in history? It’s a question with an institutional answer. Academies, like the Académie Royale in France, played a crucial role in dictating the hierarchy of genres. History painting—grand narratives with moral lessons—sat at the top, and landscape was considered lower in status. But prints like this helped popularize landscape as a subject for art, and the rising merchant class became eager consumers. Prints also allowed artists to disseminate their ideas beyond the confines of the Academy, contributing to a broader cultural conversation about nature, property, and the place of humanity within the natural world. To understand this print, we need to look at its place in the history of art institutions and its role in shaping public taste.