Pastoral landscape with a peasant woman seated on a mule

The short-lived Dancker Danckerts (1634-1666) was a well known Dutch engraver and publisher. Danckerts was the son of Cornelis Danckerts of Amsterdam and Anne Minne of Leiden. The Danckerts belonged to a large Amsterdam family of engravers, cartographers, print-sellers and publishers, who also included Dancker's brother, Justus. Danckerts was known for both his etchings of paintings, maps and his publications. His work had taken him to Venice by the time of his death. His works are widely collected and feature in numerous museum, library and archive collections around the world.

This etching is after a drawing/design by Nicolaes Berchem. This is a charming pastoral landscape, with a peasant woman seated on horseback, a man helping her load panniers onto the donkey, a woman with two children on a path at left, ruins on a rock in left background. The woman's considerably taller mount distinguishes them from the more lowly pack-donkey standing right by them. The backcloth is romantic - ruined masonry in the foreground melding with a rocky eminence in the background.  Te Papa has two impressions of this print. This one is in the so-called King George IV album of Old Master prints, acquired by the Dominion Museum in 1910; the other was presented to the Colonial Museum in 1869 by Bishop Ditlev Monrad (1869-0001-103).

Sources:

British Museum Collection Online, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3221852&partId=1&searchTex t=berchem+danckerts&page=1

Wikipedia, 'Dancker Danckerts', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancker_Danckerts

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    April 2019