Boer 17th century

This anonymous 17th century etching, titled "Boer," depicts a man holding a shovel and a stick in a landscape with a city in the background and a ship in the distance. It is a small work, only 145mm high and 106 mm wide, but the detail is remarkable. The artist uses hatching and cross-hatching to show texture and form, and the composition is simple yet effective. The figure is the focal point, and the landscape is merely a background, suggesting the importance of labor in this era.