Ridder en man met hoed bij muur van Hadrianus 1707

This print of Hadrian's Wall was made by Jan Goeree, likely in the Netherlands in the early 18th century. The image accompanies a publication celebrating the British Isles. We see a Roman soldier standing beside an aristocrat outside the ancient wall that once marked the northern border of the Roman Empire. These figures are an expression of Dutch social and political ambition at the time. We should remember that the Dutch Republic was a relatively new nation, having only won independence from Spain in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. As they expanded their global trade networks, they needed to create a national identity. The image presents the Dutch as heirs to the Roman Empire, and it makes the case that they were now the true defenders of Europe. As art historians, we look at archives from this period such as trade records, political pamphlets, and the publications that Goeree illustrated, to better understand this print and its place in Dutch society.