"How does one write a history of Dutch art from the perspective of Albany, New York, a region known as Beverwijck and Rensselaerswyck in the seventeenth century? Engaging with Indigenous histories, the presence of Afro-Atlantic perspectives, and the ongoing impact of Dutch architecture and material culture within the ‘Capital Region,’ this lecture narrates a history of Dutch art through beavers and bovines, fences and dams, forestry, potsherds, and land deeds. Drawing on the concept of ‘rewilding’ in nature conservation, this lecture will ask about the possibilities of beholding a natural world distinct from the commodification of nature that began with Dutch landscape painting in the seventeenth century, and the simultaneous extraction of resources from the Americas. By turning to the archaeological record (woodland and urban), this lecture considers what remains as a path towards rewilding perception." |