Driehoeksmeting langs een rivier 1770 - 1808

Curator: Here we have "Driehoeksmeting langs een rivier," or "Triangulation along a River," an ink drawing on paper by Jan Brandes, likely created sometime between 1770 and 1808. It presents an almost ghostly depiction of a river’s edge overlaid with a network of geometric lines. Editor: My initial reaction is… intriguing! It’s like a topographical map viewed through the lens of a forgotten dream. There's a kind of delicate tension between the organic curves of the river and the rigid geometry imposed upon it. Does the image convey authority or domination? Curator: I'd say it's both a demonstration of enlightenment reason, as well as a beautiful example of Neoclassical landscape aesthetics. These measured landscapes offered a sense of control over nature through scientific accuracy. Triangulation, the core of this technique, represents that desire to categorize the world into comprehensible units. Note how each peak becomes a station for calculation. Editor: Calculation! But look at the softness, the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper. There’s a vulnerable quality, isn’t there? The light grey washes make the mapped area seem ethereal, almost as if the land is receding from the imposed grid. Is it a map or an elegy for nature itself? Curator: I see it more as a synthesis of the empirical and the artistic. Brandes was an explorer and a minister who recorded a vast number of exotic scenes of colonial settlements with this analytical approach, though the style borrows much from 18th-century Dutch landscape painting. Each triangle represents an intersection of cartography and cultural vision. Editor: So, it is a way of possessing a place, through knowing, delineating, representing! The geometric framework becomes a cage as much as a key. Now I see a darker symbolism – control of nature and perhaps control of colonized lands under the guise of objective survey. Curator: I concur with your suggestion on potential colonial influence here. The drawing reveals the psychological impact of imposing a grid onto fluid space—nature molded to serve humanity. Editor: In this convergence of art and science, where control confronts wildness, Jan Brandes exposes a cultural act, making you ponder its hidden stories within each softly smudged line and rigidly calculated angle. It stays with you long after you walk away.