Het huis Den Ham, bij Vleuten 1744

Jan de Beijer made this drawing of Het huis Den Ham near Vleuten in the 18th century with pen and grey ink. The texture of the paper is evident and crucial here. De Beijer's strokes are delicate, but they depict a building of robust construction. The artist was likely trained in the conventions of architectural drawing, where meticulous precision would have been the order of the day. But in this case, the slight looseness of the penwork gives the image a feeling of immediacy. You can sense the artist working en plein air. The drawing is topographical in nature. Yet it also implies something about Dutch society. The imposing structure of Den Ham speaks to the owner's wealth and status. The laborers out front denote their reliance on the wealthy class. Even through a modest drawing, we can grasp the social relations embedded in this landscape. It shows how even the simplest of artistic techniques can be imbued with rich historical context.