Gezicht op Wasen before 1898

Curator: Right, let’s immerse ourselves in this… it’s quite a find! What we have here is “Gezicht op Wasen,” dating from before 1898. It appears to be a print, likely a photographic reproduction within a book. Anonymous, sadly. What strikes you first about it? Editor: It’s a window to another era, isn’t it? The sepia tones, that almost script-like font... it feels aged, a gentle story whispered from the past. It has a slightly melancholic air, doesn't it? Quiet but present. Curator: Precisely! That aged quality isn't just visual; it’s imbued in the image itself. Wasen, with its "devil's bridge" as the text tells us, already comes with its load of legends. Look closely, it details the Saint-Gotthard tunnel. It speaks of a rapid express train piercing the mountain, plunging its viewers into dizziness. Editor: So, the romantic notion of travel combined with a technological marvel that inspired both awe and a touch of fear. The typography and the embellished borders contribute. It's trying to communicate grandeur, adventure, while being cradled in what now looks to be an older, softer world. Curator: Yes! Those decorative borders definitely enhance that sensation. The text promises "vertigo", a plunging sensation; it acknowledges the train entering the dark entrails of the mountains, and it also implies some degree of marvel at an almost supernatural feat of engineering! I think it's an appeal to wonder and excitement about something groundbreaking for that period. Editor: And that typeface, those flourishes. A modern book would aim for clarity; but this aims for… a sense of historical drama? They frame the tunnel, suggesting power, something imposing, or perhaps the cultural anxiety around such rapid industrial and technological advancements at the time? Curator: Perhaps! I’d lean into the romance angle a little, to me the symbolic meaning is the sheer daring of man's endeavour. Editor: Interesting. Curator: Yes. Looking at it all now... It’s made me realize the beauty is not just in the scene itself, but in what the photograph, or rather print represents: a time capsule filled with anticipation and awe for an uncertain future. Editor: Agreed. The emotional landscape, that is what makes it speak through the ages! The landscape outside the tunnel is no less impressive.