Twee tijgers in een landschap c. 1768 - 1834

Isaac van Haastert made this print of two tigers in a landscape with etching and aquatint. Here, the exotic East, as it was understood in the Netherlands, is brought closer through depictions of its wildlife. In the 18th century, the Dutch Republic was a major trading power with interests in Asia, specifically through the Dutch East India Company. This print subtly reflects the social conditions of its time by invoking the economic and colonial ties between the Netherlands and distant lands. But it also speaks to the institutional history of the natural sciences, and to the popular appetite, stimulated by exploration and colonization, for images of newly discovered species. To understand this work better, one could research the Dutch East India Company's visual culture, the networks through which images and specimens of exotic animals circulated, and the broader context of Dutch colonialism. This print reminds us that art is always made within a specific set of social, economic, and institutional relations.