15de-eeuws harnas voor een ruiter uit het leger van Karel VII van Frankrijk, uit de collectie van het Musée d'Artillerie in Parijs before 1882

Curator: Here we have a gelatin-silver print of a 15th-century armor for a knight in Charles VII of France’s army. The original armor is from the collection of the Musée d'Artillerie in Paris. Editor: Wow, this image immediately strikes me as eerie. The stark monochromatic tones enhance a ghostlike feel, don’t you think? Curator: Indeed. The anonymous photographer captured the inherent textures and material properties through the lens; note the cold sheen of the metal against the softer suggestion of cloth, the intricate articulation of the joints. This photograph operates almost as a document, preserving this object for future analysis. Editor: Yes, but it also does more, I think. There is something unnerving in capturing war like this. It transforms something deeply, brutally physical into something quite still. It gives a spectral form to violence. And that elaborate helmet—is that an animal figure on top? Curator: Precisely! It’s a quite common decorative element to the period and signals both wealth and power. And by staging it so deliberately, atop a plinth, the photographer transforms mere armor into something monumental and perhaps allegorical. Editor: It makes me wonder who wore it, this suit of armor. Did he imagine this would be his legacy? That his death-dealing suit would outlive him in a picture? It has a haunting beauty. Curator: It also is a compelling piece because of its ability to highlight aspects of material culture, presenting them in a form accessible for later interpretation through photographic reproduction. Editor: It’s incredible how something seemingly inert, like this artifact captured on photographic paper, can still conjure up such strong emotions. What we see can reach out and grasp the intangible aspects of life, of existence itself. It asks so much.