2009.16.744
Landscape with Pigs and Two Pedlars (Plate 4)
Artist
Jan van de Velde II
(ca. 1593 - 1641, Enkhuizen, The Netherlands)
Title
Landscape with Pigs and Two Pedlars (Plate 4)
Creation Date
1616
Century
early 17th century
Dimensions
6 7/8 in. x 9 3/8 in. (17.46 cm x 23.81 cm)
Object Type
print
Creation Place
Europe, Netherlands
Medium and Support
etching on cream laid paper
Credit Line
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Gift of Charles Pendexter
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
2009.16.744
A Dutch engraver and painter, Jan van de Velde II depicted landscapes, animals, and still lifes. This charming etching of two peddlers strolling past a farmhouse is from his series of landscapes of Holland’s Haarlem countryside. It exhibits an eye for incidental detail and appreciation for journeying along the region’s scenic roads, qualities that were typical of Dutch artists. Itinerant peddling emerged in Europe when new trade routes opened during the fifteenth century and flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Whether poor peasants obliged by circumstance to strap baskets to their backs or professional merchants seeking new markets, peddlers brought novelty and occasionally luxury to rural customers. Two hundred years after this print was made, Porter traveled more modern circuits painting portraits and making professional connections.