Aangespoelde beenderen 1809 - 1810

Anthonie van den Bos created this watercolor titled Aangespoelde beenderen, or washed up bones, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. The Dutch Republic had a booming economy at this time due to its global trade and its financial institutions which fostered scientific innovation. New sciences like paleontology were attempting to classify the natural world and push back the traditional religious explanations of the Earth's origins. Natural historians employed artists to create accurate representations of their discoveries for scientific publications. This sepia watercolor shows the artist's acute observation skills and ability to render these bones as objects of scientific interest. Washed up bones speak to the vastness of time and the power of natural processes to shape the earth, even without a human witness. By researching the artist and the scientific and academic institutions of the time, we can better understand the cultural history that informed both the practice and the meaning of this artwork.