Kapel van Willem Tell aan het Meer van Luzern before 1880

Curator: I am struck by the ghostly calm of this image. "Kapel van Willem Tell aan het Meer van Luzern", or Chapel of William Tell on Lake Lucerne. This albumen print dates from before 1880. There’s a serene timelessness. What do you see? Editor: Well, firstly, the texture! The paper itself looks fascinating. And there's a kind of soft, dreamy quality, like looking at a memory. But it’s a staged memory, don’t you think? With the tiny figures near the chapel? Curator: Precisely. Albumen printing involves coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate, making it light-sensitive. Its popularity reveals a mass desire for reproducible imagery. The figures staged there are carefully posed as subjects, part of constructing the sublime. Editor: Sublimity! I can see that. The imposing mountains in the distance certainly convey that. And think of William Tell, a mythic figure who embodies Swiss resistance and freedom. All those layers. The chapel then almost acts as a cultural signifier in nature. Curator: Indeed. The mass production of these prints coincided with burgeoning tourism. We might reflect upon how this romantic view of nature shaped ideas of national identity and cultural heritage – manufactured as much as reflected. What effect did images like this have on consumer culture? Editor: It’s kind of profound, thinking how this very delicate photograph of nature would contribute to ideas around national character, history and marketing of landscape! There's so much implied about human interaction and commerce, within the seeming natural vista. I guess a lot about it still remains like that to this day, what do you think? Curator: That’s astute, I hadn't considered the continued commercial implications, an idea to explore perhaps, for further listening. Thank you. Editor: It was my pleasure. Bye!