Gezicht op Vlaardingen 1666 - 1698

Joost van Geel’s ‘View of Vlaardingen’ presents a panorama of the bustling port town in the Netherlands, sometime in the 17th century. This print offers us more than just a pretty picture; it's a window into the economic and social life of the Dutch Golden Age. The ships aren't just props – they're central to Vlaardingen's identity as a hub for fishing and trade. The composition emphasizes the town's relationship to the sea, its source of prosperity and connection to the wider world. We can also read this image in the context of Dutch printmaking at the time, which saw a surge in cityscapes and landscapes as expressions of civic pride and national identity. To understand the full story, we can dig into archives of the period and analyze the shipping records and local histories. These resources can reveal the networks of exchange and social relations that shaped the town. What we see here is just a fragment of a past that continues to shape our present.