Landscape with Resting Travellers and Oxcart 1645

Jan Dirksz Both painted “Landscape with Resting Travellers and Oxcart” during the Dutch Golden Age, a period marked by unprecedented economic prosperity and artistic innovation in the Netherlands. Looking at this landscape today, we should consider the stories it tells and the silences it holds. In a society where wealth was increasingly concentrated in the hands of merchants and elites, how did artists like Both navigate the complex social hierarchies? There is a romanticized view of rural life, with idealized figures populating a serene landscape. But, this idyllic scene also raises questions about labor, land ownership, and the lives of those who toiled in the fields. The painting invites us to reflect on the relationship between nature, culture, and society. What does this landscape reveal about the values and aspirations of its time, and how might it speak to us today?