Courtesy Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, public domain
This print, illustrating a veterinarian standing in front of an apothecary checking a horse’s mouth, while two farmers watch with their sheep and cattle in tow, is found in Petrus Nyland, The Medicinal Shop, or Experienced House-Keeper, published in Amsterdam in 1668. A popular guide that offered remedies for common ailments—both for people and farm animals—and practical household tips on a range of subjects, this book was taken along by Dutch settlers to New Amsterdam. The cows, sheep and horses illustrated here were imported from Europe on large ships, such as the famous Animal Fleet of 1625. Cattle and sheep were an important source of food, milk and wool for the settlers and key for farming in New Netherland.
There always was a shortage of veterinarians in New Amsterdam to take care of the crowing number of cattle and other animals; new veterinarians were always looked for, as a letter by the DWIC Directors to Petrus Stuyvesant indicates.
Rijksmuseum, summary:
A veterinarian is looking into a horse's mouth. Next to him stands a man with a cow and a shepherd with four sheep. In the background is a pharmacy. An illustration from a book about rural life. On the back is a list of cattle diseases.
Reference:
Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Date: 1668
Artist: Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
Type of artwork: print, book illustration
Object number: RP-P-1911-443
Dimensions: plate edge: height 95 mm x width 129 mm
Physical characteristics: etching
Explanation: Illustration published in the French edition of: Petrus Nyland, The Medicinal Shop, or Experienced House-Keeper: Being the 3rd Part of the Pleasant Country Life ... with ... the Industrious House-Keeper: Here also added the Wise Cook, Amsterdam, 1668.