Gezicht op Middelburg (eerste deel) 1616 - 1679

François Schillemans created this print of Middelburg around the early 17th century, a period when the Dutch Republic was asserting its identity through trade, naval power, and art. The print gives us a bird’s-eye view of the city. It reflects the Dutch Republic's embrace of a mercantile class with its own symbols of power. Schillemans offers a vision of prosperity and order through the architectural rendering of the city’s landscape, the activity in the fields, and the heraldic imagery at the top, which collectively speak to civic pride. It's also a subtle assertion of cultural values, where a rising merchant class began to define its own markers of success and social standing. Yet, one must reflect on the complex layers beneath this veneer of prosperity. The wealth depicted here, like much of the Dutch Golden Age, was intertwined with global trade networks, some of which relied upon the exploitation and forced labor of colonized peoples. Through Schillemans's eyes, we witness not just a city, but a society in the throes of defining itself, a society that was deeply shaped by economic transformation and the intricate moral questions that came with it.