Landschap met een familie, een schaap en een hond 1842

This is Landschap met een familie, een schaap en een hond, made by Willem Valter Pzn in the 19th century using pen in brown and watercolor in gray. The materials themselves are quite humble. Watercolor paints and brown ink were relatively inexpensive and easily accessible at the time, allowing for a kind of artistic expression that wasn't reliant on the patronage of wealthy clients. The application of watery pigment in muted tones gives the scene a hazy, almost dreamlike quality. You can almost feel the dampness of the air. The labor invested here is subtle but important; the artist skillfully deploys hatching and washes, indicative of formal academic training, to conjure the effects of light and shadow on the landscape, and the way the artist has used the techniques gives us a glimpse into the hard life of rural existence. Valter's choice of commonplace materials and subjects thus flattens the hierarchy between high art and the everyday, reminding us that artistic expression can be found in the humblest of circumstances.