Het Gezigt van de Passer, Koekraal benevens de berge Sallak en Pangarangoe int verschiet, af te zien van het Speelhuijs uijt de kleijne tuijn op Buijten Zorg 1771

Johannes Rach, a draughtsman for the Dutch East India Company, made this drawing of the view from the garden at Buitenzorg, now Bogor, in Java. The image offers a glimpse into the life of the Dutch elite in the colonial Dutch East Indies. Rach was employed to accurately record the landscape, architecture, and customs of the region. But this image also speaks to the aesthetics of the colonizers. The carefully planned gardens and the distant mountains evoke a sense of order and control imposed on the landscape. It presents a vision of the colony as a picturesque and productive space under Dutch command. At the time it was made, the Dutch East India Company was a powerful institution, but its ruthless exploitation of resources and people was the subject of growing criticism. To fully understand this drawing, we can turn to archival sources, travelogues, and Company records. This helps us to understand how the image participates in the social, economic, and political conditions of the time.