Rouen, Looking up the River 1834

Editor: This is "Rouen, Looking up the River" by Robert Brandard. It feels like we're peering into a bustling 19th-century port. What do you see in this piece beyond just the surface depiction? Curator: I see a visual document deeply embedded in the socio-economic realities of its time. The busy port reflects the rise of industrial capitalism, but who exactly is benefiting from this industry? Consider the figures embarking and disembarking – what narratives of labor and social class might be unfolding here? Editor: That's fascinating, I hadn't considered that. Curator: It invites us to consider the human cost of progress, and question whose stories are being told, and whose are being left out.