Gezicht op het St. Martinkanaal buiten Parijs 1655

Israel Silvestre made this print of the St. Martin canal outside Paris using etching in 1655. What is immediately striking is the contrast between the manicured architecture of the canal, the chateau beyond, and the everyday people in the foreground. Silvestre was part of a generation of artists who worked for royal and aristocratic patrons in France. His prints document not just landscapes, but also the construction projects and public works undertaken by the state. The St. Martin canal, for instance, was an ambitious engineering feat designed to improve transportation and trade around Paris. The perspective of the print emphasizes the canal's ordered design. The figures on the bank, however, remind us that these grand projects were ultimately about people. We can learn more about the social impact of these infrastructural changes by looking at archival sources from the period. Art becomes meaningful as its social and institutional context is revealed by the historian.