Zicht op de brug en de kloof van Hourat 1858

Curator: Here we have Eugène Cicéri’s "View of the Bridge and the Gorge of Hourat" from 1858, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It’s an engraving, rendered in that beautiful old engraving style. Editor: The starkness hits me first. It feels almost like a fever dream, all those grays, that vertiginous drop. Makes my stomach flip just looking at it. Curator: Engravings like these were essential for circulating images of places before photography became widely accessible. The skill involved is immense. Think about the labor needed to produce this level of detail through the medium of print. Editor: I can almost feel the chill coming off that rushing water. And look how minute those figures are on the bridge – ants against the monumentality of the gorge! They feel like witnesses more than active participants. Does that speak to the Romantic aesthetic that tags this piece? Curator: Absolutely. Romanticism favored the sublime, the awe-inspiring. A scene like this plays directly into the relationship between humanity and nature, using the natural world as a form of industrial production. Editor: Speaking of production, did the commercial needs impact the aesthetics? Did a large audience change the artistry? Curator: Well, landscape prints fed a booming market, where the burgeoning middle class consumed scenes of both known and distant lands. This piece flirts with ideas around access, travel and labour—all key material concepts of the 19th century. The very existence of this print signals wider societal and material transformations. Editor: So, we see a chasm, but we also see a world on the move...it’s more than a snapshot; it's a document of industry and Romantic ideas in tandem, churning like the river at the base of that gorge. Thanks for letting me journey through it with you! Curator: My pleasure. It’s always enlightening to trace the lines of production that intersect with our aesthetic experiences.