Twee landschappen met wandelaars 1780

Geerlig Grijpmoed created these two landscapes with walkers as etchings, but we don’t know exactly when. The picturesque scenes evoke a sense of rural idyll with their humble cottages and wandering figures. Made in the Netherlands, Grijpmoed was working at a time when the Dutch art market was changing. The patronage of the church and aristocracy was waning, with a growing middle class now keen to buy art. The artist’s decision to create small-scale prints indicates that the target market was the home. The landscapes are not grand or imposing, but rather intimate and personal. They speak to the Dutch burghers’ interest in nature as a place of leisure. They also draw on the longer history of landscape painting in the Netherlands, making this a fine example of the democratisation of art. To understand these prints better, we might look to estate inventories and auction catalogues. These can help us to understand more about how art was collected and consumed at the time.