Wereldkaart en boeken 1682

Arnold Houbraken created this print, "Wereldkaart en boeken," sometime between 1660 and 1719, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. The composition is immediately striking for its arrangement of symbolic objects. A rolled map and several books are rendered with meticulous cross-hatching, creating a dense, textured surface. The artist uses sharp contrasts of light and shadow to define the forms and give them a tactile presence. The ordered arrangement is deceptive, and it is here where the semiotic structure of the print begins to surface. We see a world that is broken and ruined, reflecting a worldview informed by the period's philosophical debates around knowledge, discovery, and the limits of human understanding. Houbraken’s formal choices invite us to question the nature of representation itself. By focusing on the materiality of the objects—the texture of the paper, the way light falls across the rolled map—the print draws attention to its constructed nature. The artwork compels us to consider how these visual elements function not merely as aesthetic choices but as carriers of cultural and philosophical meaning.