Verovering van drie piratenschepen door kapitein Cornelis Daniels, 1619 1860

Jan Frederik Christiaan Reckleben made this print, ‘Verovering van drie piratenschepen door kapitein Cornelis Daniels, 1619’ [The conquest of three pirate ships by Captain Cornelis Daniels, 1619], in the Netherlands in the 19th century. It depicts a 17th-century naval victory, the ships flying the Dutch flag, as viewed from a shoreline filled with cheering figures. Reckleben made this print during a period of Dutch nationalism, when the nation looked back to its Golden Age for cultural and political inspiration. This image evokes the period when the Dutch Republic was a major maritime power. The print creates meaning through visual codes. It's monochrome palette and the precision of the engraving lends it an air of historical authenticity, even though it was made two centuries later. The choice of subject matter and the style in which it is rendered, tells us much about the cultural and political context in which it was made, and how the Dutch saw themselves in relation to their own history. Historians use archives, period publications, and other resources to better understand the social and institutional context in which art is made. In this case, the image offers a lens through which we can examine the development of national identity and the institutional promotion of Dutch history.