Gezicht op het ovale bos in de tuin van buitenplaats Duinrell 1675 - 1711

Editor: Here we have an engraving from between 1675 and 1711, called "Gezicht op het ovale bos in de tuin van buitenplaats Duinrell," or "View of the oval forest in the garden of the Duinrell estate." It's attributed to an anonymous artist and is part of the Rijksmuseum collection. The rigid formality and the way everything's neatly trimmed feels so…controlled. What's your take on this meticulously ordered landscape? Curator: Controlled indeed, yet within that control, doesn’t there seem to be a yearning for… well, something beyond mere geometry? It's as if the artist is trying to capture not just the physical space, but the *idea* of the perfect garden. The high hedges create these wonderful stage-like areas. Notice the figures in the foreground, almost actors upon a calculated stage. It speaks volumes about the Dutch Golden Age, the rise of merchants and their desires. A lot of the world was untamed then, do you wonder if they tamed it here, in their gardens? Editor: That’s a thought! So, the garden becomes a miniature reflection of how they viewed the world and maybe their position in it. Does that impulse for “taming” extend to the artist, do you think? Do you get the impression that the engraving is trying to make it more… orderly than it really was? Curator: Possibly! The clean lines of the print lend themselves to idealization. But perhaps that's the beauty of it: this tension between the natural world and the human desire to shape it. Think of what stories these meticulously placed topiaries could whisper about ambition, social order, and a love of structure. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about! Thanks. I'll never look at a garden the same way again. Curator: Nor I, it’s like finding philosophy within a garden maze.