Gezicht op boerderijen en schuren 1838 - 1911

Curator: This etching, titled "Gezicht op boerderijen en schuren," or "View of Farms and Barns," is the work of Jean Pierre François Lamorinière. It's housed here at the Rijksmuseum and thought to have been created sometime between 1838 and 1911. Editor: It evokes a feeling of isolation and stillness. The lone tree in the center, its branches bare, and the simple, almost severe, architecture of the farm buildings really convey that. There is also something nostalgic about it. Curator: Nostalgia, yes, but I wonder if that’s partly tied to the materials themselves. Printmaking, especially etching, has a long and very particular history. Here, it brings the Dutch Golden Age traditions forward, and does so through a distinctly reproducible medium that also hints at realism, or the way agrarian work might become an artistic enterprise, given new markets. Editor: Indeed, the imagery certainly reinforces a connection to that era. Farm buildings are a ubiquitous symbol of home, hearth, the land. Their humble presence connects us to simpler times, agricultural life, ideas of cultivation, labor and harvest... Perhaps those thatched roofs represent shelter or even secrets harbored within, a collective cultural memory tied to rural life? Curator: Good point! The texture achieved through the etching process mirrors that raw feeling and those very natural materials like straw and wood, as the building itself comes into dialogue with a working class, whose labor would go into the craft that allowed its appearance, too. The landscape is presented plainly, with a visible connection between how art and labor can connect through materiality. Editor: Thinking about the sky though—its delicate rendering suggests more than mere weather. Perhaps it’s a symbolic representation of the heavens, of fate. That the divine impacts our mortal world, the world of farm and labor you talk about. Curator: That's a beautiful observation. It enriches our understanding to consider these spiritual and cultural values simultaneously with the material circumstances of its production and circulation. Editor: Looking at it, it feels almost like glimpsing a dream. Curator: A dream rooted in very real human effort.