Watervalletje bij een meer in een berglandschap 1766 - 1815

This is Jacob van Strij's "Watervalletje bij een meer in een berglandschap," a drawing made with pen in gray ink, dating back to the late 18th or early 19th century. During this time, landscape art served as a powerful tool for expressing national identity and cultural values. Van Strij, living through a period of political upheaval and social change in the Netherlands, captures the serene beauty of the natural world, a nature idealized through a bourgeois lens. The cascading water, the rolling hills, and the quaint buildings evoke a sense of harmony and order. Van Strij was invested in the visual language of the Dutch landscape, and you can note the emotional connection he forged between the land and its people. This connection goes beyond the picturesque view; it tells stories of a culture rooted in the land, of the quiet lives of those who inhabited it, and of a collective identity shaped by shared experiences and values.