Duinlandschap 1878

Johannes Hilverdink made this evocative drawing of a dune landscape with graphite and brush in grey ink. His subject matter speaks to a growing interest in landscape that emerged in the Netherlands during the nineteenth century. However, this wasn't simply a neutral appreciation of scenery. For Dutch artists at this time, landscape became closely bound up with ideas of national identity. After a period of French rule, artists looked to the countryside for something uniquely Dutch, a way to represent the nation’s character. This explains the popularity of landscapes at institutions like the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, where Hilverdink taught. Students would have been trained to find the sublime in their local environment, a curriculum that can be seen as part of a broader project of nation-building. To understand this image fully, we might consult exhibition reviews, sales records, and institutional archives, which all help us to understand the social life of art.