Cottage on Hill c. 1877

Hendrik Pieter Koekkoek made this drawing, Cottage on Hill, using graphite on paper. The image is a view of rural life in the Netherlands, where Koekkoek lived and worked in the mid-19th century. His family were well-known as landscape painters. The image is not overtly political, but in its rendering of the Dutch countryside we might see something of the prevailing attitudes of the time. Consider the rise of landscape painting as a popular genre. The image-making institutions of the art world catered to a growing urban middle class who were nostalgic for an idealised vision of country life. We know, from archives and publications, that the art market in the Netherlands was vibrant at this time. Artists like Koekkoek were responding to consumer demand for works that were calming and picturesque. Landscape painting like this also played a role in constructing national identity, representing a vision of what it meant to be Dutch.