Komst van de Souverein Vorst te Amsterdam, 1813. 1813 - 1815

Curator: Let's delve into "Komst van de Souverein Vorst te Amsterdam, 1813," a print made between 1813 and 1815, currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It's a bustling scene! It really captures the feeling of a historical moment, all these people gathered... What stands out to you most when you look at this engraving? Curator: I’m struck by how this image performs as both record and construction of a particular national identity. How does the print function as propaganda, visually narrating a very specific and perhaps sanitized version of Dutch sovereignty after years of French rule? Consider the strategic placement of figures, the lion, the rising sun... all working together. Editor: Propaganda... so you're saying it's not just showing what happened, but also telling people *how* to feel about it? Curator: Precisely! And who gets to be represented? Look at the figures in the foreground. Who seems to be at the center of the action, and whose stories are marginalized, absent from this triumphant return? What does this absence say about power dynamics at play? Editor: That's a great point, everyone prominent seems to be a white male. I guess the "good old times" the inscription refers to, weren’t good for everyone. It does make me consider whose perspectives aren’t being shown in historical depictions. Curator: Exactly. By understanding the narratives of inclusion and exclusion at play within this seemingly straightforward depiction of a historical event, we can ask pertinent questions about how history is made and how power operates. What new questions does that reveal to you? Editor: I’m now thinking about whose stories were actively suppressed or forgotten in the making of this national narrative and how to uncover those lost perspectives. Curator: And perhaps that is the role of art history: to look beyond the triumphant return and question for whom it truly triumphed.