Kip, hanen en kuikens 1654 - 1712

This engraving titled ‘Kip, hanen en kuikens’ – or hens, roosters and chicks – was made anonymously, and we don’t know when. But the scene it shows speaks volumes about social and economic life. The image presents us with a smallholding, the animals clustered near a rough building. Chickens were vital to the rural economy of much of Europe and, depending on the breed, were valued for meat, eggs, and cockfighting. Here, chicks drink from a dish; the rooster keeps guard. Prints like this one circulated widely. It would be tempting to read a moral into the image of the protective rooster – the paterfamilias – but it is more likely that prints such as these served a practical function. Perhaps this was a model to be copied; a vision of an ideal chicken run. The historian can look at household accounts and farming manuals to find out how the agricultural economy worked, and compare this image to other depictions of rural life. Art always exists in a social and institutional context.