Landschap in Puy-de-Dôme, Frankrijk 1860 - 1880

Editor: So, we’re looking at "Landschap in Puy-de-Dôme, Frankrijk," a photograph from between 1860 and 1880, by Jean Baptiste Berubet. The albumen print is tucked into what looks like a photograph album. I’m immediately drawn to the rather serene feeling and the framing; it feels very contained and deliberately picturesque. What stands out to you when you look at it? Curator: You know, it reminds me a bit of those travel albums that were all the rage back then. But beyond that immediate nostalgic charm, there's something wonderfully composed. I find my gaze immediately drawn up and into that central, somewhat hazy peak, and then down into the patchwork landscape in the foreground. It's interesting, don't you think, how the photographer captured not just the place but almost a feeling, an impression, with so much hazy open space? Almost as if he knew photography wasn't about literalism alone. Does it remind you of other images of that era? Editor: I do get that sense of striving for an artistic "impression," even with a relatively new technology. And thinking of period artwork that might remind me of it, it definitely hints at some of the Romantic landscape painting ideals with maybe a touch of the Realist aesthetic? Curator: Precisely! Romanticism's sublime beauty paired with Realism's straightforwardness. Perhaps it's less about recreating a landscape exactly, and more about immortalising the *feeling* of being in that place. How clever, to harness new photographic tools to serve more timeless artistic endeavors, yes? It's quite striking for what we might see as old! Editor: Yes, a clever artistic expression and a thoughtful composition! Curator: Indeed. Seeing something so still somehow speaks volumes. Thanks, I loved our little walk in France today.