Landschap met twee putti en een riviergod bij een kaart van het Land van Heusden en Altena 1772

This delicate etching, "Landschap met twee putti en een riviergod bij een kaart van het Land van Heusden en Altena," was created in 1774 by Reinier Vinkeles. The composition is divided into distinct registers: The lower register features two putti, while the upper one shows a river god reclining above a map. The river god is rendered with a muscularity that contrasts with the playful innocence of the putti below. The map is depicted almost as a tapestry, a flat surface upon which the identity of a territory is displayed. The etching’s formal tension arises from the interplay between the concrete, almost tactile representation of the figures, and the abstract rendering of geographical space. The stark lines and contrasting tones create a visual language that destabilizes traditional landscape representation, asking us to consider how we perceive and define geographical space through symbolic forms. Ultimately, this work invites us to ponder the relationship between materiality and abstraction, representation and reality.