Winterlandschap met melkmeisjes 1848 - 1888

Anton Mauve made this etching, "Winter Landscape with Milkmaids," in the Netherlands sometime in the late nineteenth century. It depicts two milkmaids on a path in a flat, wintry landscape. Made during the rise of Realism, the image creates meaning through its attention to the ordinary lives of rural laborers. Dutch Realist painters were often interested in responding to the dominant artistic institutions, like the academy, by depicting subjects outside the normal, historical, or mythological themes. The etching's cultural references are to the rural life of the Netherlands and to the harshness of winter, while its historical association is with a broader European tradition of landscape painting. To understand the social conditions that shaped this work, you could research the Realist movement, the art market in the Netherlands, and the role of the Rijksmuseum in collecting and displaying art. Remember, the meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.