Tekst voor bij de kaart van de aanleg van de straatweg van Den Haag naar Scheveningen, 1664-1665 1667

Curator: This is the "Tekst voor bij de kaart van de aanleg van de straatweg van Den Haag naar Scheveningen, 1664-1665," an etching and print on paper from 1667 by Johan van Swieten. Editor: My initial impression is of…words! It's an overwhelming block of text, a field of tightly packed characters. How would anyone navigate this? Curator: Precisely! This text served as a companion piece to a map detailing the construction of the road between The Hague and Scheveningen. Johan van Swieten, the Landmeter, was providing context and justification for the project. It aimed to contextualize, defend, and add depth to the visualization within the accompanying map, offering details that extend beyond visual representation. Editor: Ah, so it’s less about artistic expression and more about the labor, material, and political rationale behind infrastructure. What's compelling is seeing the sheer effort required to articulate, to justify, what seems, centuries later, like a straightforward project. This highlights how intensely every resource was scrutinized, and every process contested at the time. Curator: It speaks volumes, doesn’t it? Beyond the practicalities, there's a symbolic dimension, as well. Consider how the mention of divine intervention reveals reliance on God during storms and reliance on new infrastructure: you witness that era's values, faith, and social change all entangled within one image. The "Water," repeatedly invoked, carries the threat of disruption. Editor: That's right, water as a material force, constantly pushing back against the human endeavor to control the land. The text wrestles with that tension. You also get a sense of social stratification from it too, I wonder what kind of labor arrangements were put into place during the building of the highway. Curator: Van Swieten’s etching, in its density, presents a vision where man attempts to control nature and a sense of pride and duty. It serves as a potent marker of both an era and a burgeoning sense of national purpose. Editor: Yes, ultimately, what this print illuminates for me isn’t just a road being built, but a whole system of labor and materials in contention and resolution. Curator: Indeed, this document is dense, demanding our consideration and highlighting our insights into this critical intersection.