Winterlandschap 1821 - 1886

Dirk Jurriaan Sluyter created this Winter Landscape as an etching. In the Netherlands, winter scenes are a traditional genre of painting. The frozen canals, windmills, and overcast sky are all elements that symbolize Dutch identity and the lowlands geography that is crucial to the country’s culture and economy. This landscape is part of a larger history of Dutch painting that connects the daily life of regular people to a sense of national pride. Sluyter likely made this print for sale to the public. Museums and art academies were becoming more prominent during this time, and artists aimed to make a living by appealing to what they thought these institutions would consider to be valuable in art. Prints were a popular art form because they were cheaper to produce. This etching suggests that the art market was expanding to include scenes of ordinary Dutch life. To learn more about the cultural history of winter landscapes, you can explore the Rijksmuseum print collection, auction catalogs, and period newspapers for further information about the social meaning of art at this time.