Twee ossen die een wagen door een rivier trekken 1914

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this etching of oxen pulling a wagon through a river at an unknown date. The overall tone is sepia; everything appears to be rendered in shades of brown ink. The image has a kind of dreamlike quality. At first glance, it seems like a fairly straightforward pastoral scene, but the longer you look, the weirder it gets. There's this strange rocky outcrop behind the oxen, with figures perched on top that look like something from a classical frieze. It’s as though Nieuwenkamp is combining different traditions and styles, folding them into each other. The scene is built up from these very fine lines and cross-hatching, giving it a sense of depth and texture. Look at the way the water is depicted with these delicate, almost trembling lines. It reminds me of Piranesi, who was also preoccupied with this sense of epic scale. Ultimately, the meaning remains elusive, much like art itself.