Gezicht op het dorp Zundert 1777

Dirk Verrijk made this drawing of Zundert in the Dutch province of Brabant in the late eighteenth century. It presents a bird's-eye view of a rural village, with its church steeple, thatched-roofed cottages, and peasants working in the fields. This picturesque scene conforms to the period’s growing interest in the common life of the countryside. The drawing is inscribed as a view of Zundert in the Barony of Breda, a title indicating the area’s feudal ties to the Dutch royal family. Pictures like this were luxury goods, often commissioned by landowners who sought a fashionable representation of their holdings. This image can tell us so much more about the agricultural economy and social hierarchy of the time. The historian can access land records, tax rolls, and estate papers to uncover hidden dimensions of meaning in artworks like this, reminding us that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum.