"Sight" 1741 - 1782

Peter Cramer created “Sight”, sometime in the 18th century, using oil on copper. Cramer, who worked during the Enlightenment, invites us to consider vision, not just as a physical sense, but as a metaphor for knowledge and perspective. The man depicted, warmly dressed and peering through a magnifying glass, engages with the act of seeing in a period defined by scientific inquiry and exploration. Yet, the somewhat caricatured features, and the ramshackle environment, with a landscape tacked to the wall, hint at the complexities of perception. Is he a scholar, a simpleton, or perhaps both? The picture might subtly critique the Enlightenment's emphasis on empirical observation, suggesting that what we choose to see, and how we interpret it, is always mediated by our own biases and social position. “Sight” prompts a reflection on how we look, and what it means to truly see.