Buste van een boer met een hoed 1679 - 1704

Cornelis Dusart created this print of a peasant wearing a hat in the Netherlands sometime between 1660 and 1704. It’s a small but powerful image, typical of Dutch Golden Age art which often reflects on the social structure of the time. The Dutch Republic in Dusart’s era saw a rise in prosperity and a complex class system. Dutch art frequently depicted everyday life, but these images were never neutral. A focus on the lower classes, like this peasant, often carried a moral or political message. Was the artist celebrating the virtues of rural life, or perhaps cautioning against the perceived vulgarity of the lower classes? To understand Dusart's intention, we might look at emblem books, popular at the time, that paired images with moralizing texts. We could also examine the patronage system in the Dutch art market, noting who was buying these kinds of images and what messages they might have been seeking. This artwork, like all art, is a product of its social context.