River Valley with a Traveling Couple 1555 - 1575

Lucas Gassel created this print, River Valley with a Traveling Couple, sometime in the 16th century, using engraving. It shows us a river landscape dominated by commerce and agriculture. Made in the Netherlands, it is easy to view this image through the lens of the Dutch Golden Age, a time when the Netherlands was becoming a center of global trade. We can see how ships are central to life in this town, allowing wealth to flow in and out, and connecting it to other cities. The people are placed within the landscape, and there is a suggestion that the wealth generated by the active urban life on the river directly supports the more pastoral life suggested by the hills and fields in the distance. The formal garden in the center also hints to us at the important role of leisure and the arts in the life of the town. The details of daily life, rendered with cross-hatching, provide a window into the priorities of the institutions that upheld Dutch society. To understand it better, we might look at maps, histories, and even economic reports from the period.