Houtzaagmolen 1845

Hendrik Abraham Klinkhamer made this watercolor drawing of a sawmill, or Houtzaagmolen, in the Netherlands sometime in the mid-19th century. Windmills had been a key part of the Dutch landscape for centuries. The watermill was used for land drainage, but by Klinkhamer's time windmills were being adapted for industrial processes too. The presence of cows grazing in the background reminds us of the agricultural basis of the Dutch economy and the relationship between town and country. In its time, this watercolor might have been considered a picturesque scene, but today it reminds us that there are economic and social forces at work in how land is used and what kind of technological innovation gets funded. To really understand this drawing, we need to examine a variety of sources from economic records to local histories. The meaning of art is always dependent on social and institutional context.