Een man en een vrouw met twee honden 1739 - 1792

John Greenwood created this print, "A Man and a Woman with Two Dogs," sometime in the 18th century using etching. The scene depicts a man and woman with two dogs, presented as if it were a Dutch Golden Age painting by artists such as Metsu. The Dutch Golden Age was a period of great economic expansion for the Dutch Republic, as well as a time in which Dutch art flourished under new kinds of patronage. The art market became more open, and was no longer as reliant on the church and aristocracy. Greenwood was an American artist, though. We might ask what it meant for an American artist to present his work in the style of Dutch art, and what the possible cultural and economic associations of that choice might have been. To investigate further, one might examine the records of print sales at this time.