Aan de rand van een dorp 1786 - 1826

Hendrik Roosing made this print, "At the Edge of a Village," using etching techniques sometime around the late 18th or early 19th century. At first glance, it presents a simple scene of rural life in the Netherlands, seemingly untouched and timeless. But look closer, and we can start to decode the social hierarchies at play. There's the figure on horseback, likely of higher status, engaging with a standing villager. Then there are other figures, engaged in labor and perhaps some personal care. These are the visual cues that allow us to consider the print as more than just a landscape. Roosing made this during a period of social and economic change in the Netherlands. The old feudal order was crumbling, but new class divisions were emerging. Prints like these played a crucial role in shaping public perception of rural life, and also the place of the village within a rapidly modernizing world. By studying estate records, local histories, and even popular literature of the time, we can better understand the social realities that shaped both the scene depicted, and the artist's own perspective.