Heuvelachtig landschap met bomen Possibly 1624 - 1670

Jan van Aken created this tiny landscape etching with needle and acid sometime in the mid-17th century. The scene shows a hilly landscape with trees, rocks, and water. Produced in the Netherlands, this print participates in a growing market for landscape imagery that was fueled by a number of social and economic conditions. On the one hand, the Dutch had expanded overseas, mapping new territories and developing a sense of national pride through the possession of land. On the other hand, the institutions of art developed to meet this new demand, with artists specializing in landscape and dealers selling their work to a growing middle class of art consumers. This etching could be seen as conservative in its aesthetic, not radically challenging the artistic status quo, but it nonetheless reflects an interesting historical moment. To understand it better, we can look at the print market of the time, the biographies of artists and dealers, and the social history of Dutch attitudes toward land. This artwork’s meaning is contingent on its context.