Jacht op gemzen in de bergen 1708 - 1756

Curator: I'm struck by the dramatic chiaroscuro in this print. The figures almost seem to emerge from the rock itself. What do you see, Editor? Editor: It evokes a specific kind of anxiety, this scene. There's something almost claustrophobic about it despite the grandeur of the mountain. And look at the dynamics of the hunt, the colonialist implications. Curator: You're right, there's a tension here. This is "Jacht op gemzen in de bergen", or "Chamois Hunt in the Mountains." It's an engraving by Georg Christoph Steudner, made sometime between 1708 and 1756. Currently it lives here at the Rijksmuseum. Engravings like these offer insights into the relationship humans have to nature, framed within a specific historical lens. Editor: It certainly speaks to our fraught relationship with the natural world, but I'm curious about the way the hunt itself is depicted. Is it meant to celebrate human dominance over nature? There's a performative aspect to hunting that I see tied to wealth and class. The hunter versus the hunted. Who benefits? Curator: That's a powerful reading. Think of the Chamois as symbols. These creatures live in high, remote places; capturing them represents dominance not just over nature, but over challenging landscapes and perhaps even a sense of the unknown. Their horns themselves become trophies that carry their own potent iconography. Editor: I wonder about the mountain itself. What symbolic weight does it carry? Mountains can signify stability, permanence. But here, it also seems to amplify the precariousness of the hunt and, maybe, the hunter’s ego? The etching underscores humanity’s attempt to fix itself, or its image, within an enduring natural context. Curator: Absolutely. These mountains speak to us still. The engraving creates an environment ripe with both power dynamics and deeper allegorical elements. It speaks to cultural shifts occurring then but reverberates even now, in light of ecological destruction, conservation efforts and land sovereignty disputes. Editor: And as such it can show the complexity of a symbol, with nature embodying beauty, terror, control, and exploitation depending on the culture and era observing it. Thank you. Curator: Thank you, the mountain as a reflection of shifting ideals through generations is something to ponder.