L’Escaut à Anvers 

Félix Ziem created this watercolor painting, L’Escaut à Anvers, depicting the Scheldt river in Antwerp. Ziem’s seascapes often romanticize maritime life, but here, the grand ships also speak to Antwerp's economic vitality in the 19th century. Antwerp's port was crucial for international trade, connecting Europe to the wider world. Looking at the cultural context, Belgium was undergoing rapid industrialization during Ziem's lifetime, which transformed cities like Antwerp into major commercial hubs. Antwerp was also a city marked by social stratification. The city's burgeoning wealth was not distributed equally, leading to tensions between the merchant class and the working population. To fully understand this work, we can delve into historical archives, economic reports, and social studies of 19th-century Antwerp. This helps us interpret Ziem's painting not just as a pretty picture, but as a window into the complex social fabric of its time.