Two Carts c. 17th century

Curator: This is Allart van Everdingen's "Two Carts," a detailed landscape scene. The Harvard Art Museums holds this print, though its exact date is unknown. Editor: It's a bustling scene, even with the limited linework! The mountains looming behind the figures give everything a sense of scale. Curator: Absolutely. Mountains often symbolize obstacles, journeys. But consider the carts themselves. Commerce, labor—the very engine of society grinding onward. Editor: That makes sense given Everdingen’s period and Holland’s maritime power. Do you think the artist is making a comment on that? Curator: Perhaps. The artist clearly situates human activity within a larger environmental context, where both shape and constrain one another. I think the imagery of that message persists even today. Editor: So the image asks us to look at the past and the present as landscapes of continuity, of how we adapt and persevere.