Grazend schaap en liggend schaap bij hek 1660

Marcus de Bye created this etching, "Grazing Sheep and Lying Sheep by a Fence," during the Dutch Golden Age, a period of unprecedented economic and cultural growth for the Netherlands. De Bye's pastoral scene reflects the values and the social landscape of the 17th-century Dutch Republic, where land ownership and agricultural prosperity were central to national identity. The sheep, symbols of pastoral innocence and economic wealth, are rendered with a delicate realism that speaks to the period's burgeoning interest in naturalism. But how might we consider this depiction of rural life in light of the historical context, a time marked by Dutch colonial expansion and the exploitation of distant lands? This seemingly simple scene prompts a deeper inquiry into the relationship between the idealized Dutch landscape and the complex, often brutal, realities of global trade. The sheep, so carefully rendered, become a reminder of the resources and the labor that sustained the Dutch Golden Age, urging us to reflect on the intertwined histories of pastoral beauty and colonial power.