Ferry in Front of a Stone Bridge

Jan van de Velde played a central role in the development of the Dutch Golden Age landscape. With some 200 impeccably made landscape etchings, Jan consolidated and broadcast the Dutch nationalistic view of Holland as a new Eden, a garden of peace and plenty. His etchings catered to an increasingly urban population that delighted in his idealized views of a charming, delightful, picturesque countryside. Ferry in Front of a Stone Bridge embodies these qualities and comes from the moment of Jan's most original creativity. Of all the early figures in the development of the native Dutch landscape, his etchings are those most in tune with Holland's classicizing interest in the bucolic poetry of Virgil, particularly the Eclogues and Georgics.