Puin rondom het grafmonument van luitenant-admiraal Egbert Bartolomeusz Kortenaer in de Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

Curator: Looking at this haunting gelatin silver print by J. Nolte, made sometime between 1940 and 1945, it captures the ravaged grave monument of Lieutenant Admiral Egbert Bartolomeusz Kortenaer. Editor: My first thought is melancholy. There's such stillness amidst what clearly was once...devastation. It's a ghost of a photograph, almost. The grey tones lend themselves perfectly to a solemn reflection on destruction and the passage of time. Curator: Indeed. Notice how the photographer framed the shot? The monument, a baroque structure really, stands behind a flimsy iron fence, burdened by what looks like war debris—a stark contrast between the celebrated admiral and the wreckage around him. It invites us to meditate on mortality itself. Editor: You are right, that fence creates such a distance! It also gives it a raw emotional charge; this grand tribute brought low. Is that deliberate, or simply the circumstance of the photograph? I can not tell. But how interesting is this composition: that barrier becomes another layer of ruin. Curator: The deliberate placement would highlight that Kortenaer himself met a violent end at sea; perhaps the chaos mirrors that fateful moment? Considering its creation date, smack-dab in the middle of World War II, this image serves as a memento mori—a grim reminder of life's fragility. Editor: Absolutely. Beyond its historical record, Nolte’s work becomes something akin to history-painting, an echo of conflict rendered through ruin. I keep thinking, this is so much more than a mere landscape photograph; it’s a portrait of trauma. Curator: True. As our time concludes, I see a compelling paradox within its composition. A narrative beyond mere reportage, hinting towards rebirth after ruin—an idea very delicately told here. Editor: Ultimately, Nolte gifted us with an image where, even amid devastation, remembrance and resilience shine through. It reminds us how even loss and destruction shape a cultural understanding.