Kasteel c. 1830

Editor: This is Paulus Lauters' "Kasteel," dating from around 1830, held at the Rijksmuseum. It’s a print on paper, maybe an engraving with watercolor… It looks very…delicate. What's your take on it? Curator: Immediately, the materiality strikes me. The choice of engraving on paper – and especially the indications that it might be homemade paper -- positions this work within a specific economy of production. How does the "homemade" aspect alter our understanding of its value and accessibility? Editor: Value as in monetary? Or intrinsic? Curator: Both, but primarily in terms of how readily it could be circulated and consumed. Was this intended for a wide audience, or a more exclusive circle able to appreciate and afford works crafted with specific materials like aged paper? Editor: I see…So it’s not just about what's depicted—the landscape and the castle—but about how the image was produced and who had access to it? Curator: Precisely! Romanticism often idealized nature and the past, but a materialist lens forces us to ask: whose nature? Whose past? And who controlled the means of representing them? How did the labor involved in creating this image shape its meaning? Editor: So considering the type of paper tells us more about social status? It’s all connected. I never thought about that… Curator: Exactly. Examining the "Kasteel" through its materials encourages us to reconsider the relationship between artistic creation, social hierarchies, and consumption in the 19th century. It's a glimpse into a world shaped by production as much as by aesthetic ideals.