Hoftuin met een boottocht c. 1587 - 1601

Pieter van der Borcht created this engraving titled ‘Hoftuin met een boottocht,’ or ‘Garden with a boat trip’ in the late 16th century. Here, the garden is not merely a plot of land but a stage for social interplay, where the water becomes a mirror reflecting the theater of human relations. Note the recurring motif of boats, each carrying groups of individuals. The boat is an ancient symbol, appearing in mythologies across cultures. It represents a vessel ferrying souls, a journey between states of being. The Egyptian sun god Ra used a boat to travel through the underworld each night, facing chaos and darkness before rebirth each morning. In this context, the boats carrying people represent a journey into leisure, a departure from everyday life. The act of being in a boat, surrounded by water, also invokes subconscious desires for fluidity and freedom. We can see it as the cyclical journey that the human soul undertakes through various experiences, always returning to the source but transformed.