Fotoreproductie van een prent van de ruïne van het kasteel Batenburg before 1908

This photogravure of Batenburg Castle ruin was made by Benjamin Charlé, a Dutch artist who lived from 1845 to 1925. It's a reproduction of an earlier print, and you can see the artist has carefully rendered the textures of crumbling stone with a subtle range of sepia tones. There's a lot to be said for ruins. Here, the contrast between the solidity of the castle and its state of decay evokes a sense of nostalgia and the passage of time. The way the light hits the remaining walls, creating shadows and highlights, emphasizes the fragility and resilience of the structure. It reminds me of Piranesi, who turned the ruins of Rome into a stage for the imagination, or maybe even more contemporary artists like Rachel Whiteread who cast the negative spaces of architecture to examine the relationship between memory and place. Ultimately, the appeal of this artwork lies in its ability to spark a sense of wonder. Charlé invites us to contemplate the stories embedded in these stones, prompting us to imagine the lives lived within these walls.