Boerenerf met koeien 1812

Pieter de Goeje made this print, "Boerenerf met koeien," which translates to "Farmyard with Cows," sometime in the first half of the 19th century using etching. The image evokes the visual language of Dutch Golden Age painting, and its focus on rural life resonates with broader cultural debates from this period. The Netherlands in the 19th century was undergoing significant social and economic changes with the rise of industrialization and urbanization. Artists and intellectuals often looked back to the countryside as a source of national identity and moral virtue, as the growth of cities increasingly separated people from the sources of food. The image romanticizes agricultural life, but such images can reveal anxieties about a changing world. To fully understand a print like this, we can delve into sources such as agricultural journals, economic statistics, and even literature to understand how images of rural life played a role in shaping national identity during a period of rapid transformation.