Gezicht op de wetering bij het Rustenburgerpad 1725 - 1764

Gerardus Condet made this print of the Wetering canal near Rustenburger road in the Netherlands sometime before 1764. The canal would have been an important waterway at the time, and the print gives us a glimpse into the social and economic life of the city. The buildings that line the canal are impressive, suggesting the wealth and power of the people who lived there. We can see people enjoying the waterway: sailing boats, smaller rowing boats, and what might be a horse-drawn barge. The attention to detail gives us a vivid sense of what it would have been like to experience this view. Prints like this would have been made for a specific market. It is worth asking how the creation and circulation of such images shaped people's perceptions of their city. To discover more about this, we can look at archival records of printmakers, booksellers, and the local institutions and social structures that supported the production and consumption of art.