Ruitercharge bij een brandende molen 1799

Curator: Before us we have “Ruitercharge bij een brandende molen,” or “Cavalry Charge at a Burning Mill,” an engraving dating to 1799, attributed to Joannes Bemme, currently held in the Rijksmuseum collection. Editor: Oh, wow, it's chaotic! The eye just zips all over the place, smoke, fire, horses rearing, figures scrambling… It’s like a snapshot of pure panic. Curator: Indeed, the dynamism is striking. Note the linear precision of the engraving, almost baroque in its rendering of detail, especially evident in the agitated postures of both man and beast. The artist has employed a very structured system to construct a vivid picture plane. Editor: Structured chaos, maybe? I mean, technically impressive, sure. All those tiny lines creating textures of smoke and fabric… But does it feel anything? It’s more like watching an ant farm in hell, if that makes any sense. I think that it does have impact. The viewer immediately feels involved with the tension in the air. Curator: Perhaps it is in the thematic structure. The piece seems almost deliberately designed around visual conflicts. Note, for example, the tension between the horizontal lines of the landscape and the diagonal thrust of the cavalry, further punctuated by the verticality of the burning windmill, creating visual instability which speaks to an era of enormous social volatility. Editor: True, it certainly captures that sense of things falling apart, of an old order going up in flames – literally, in this case. All that frantic energy, going nowhere, and creating destruction. And it almost appears prophetic, or allegorical, now that so much time has passed. You begin to feel what the painting implies, which leads one down all sorts of roads for contemplation. Curator: So it does speak to you, then, at a deeper, perhaps less tangible level? Editor: Well, yes. In a way I did not quite anticipate initially, despite some initial misgivings. Now that it comes down to it, it did strike a chord with me. A visual representation, of what I perceive as being one great historic upheaval in time. Curator: Then I submit we've achieved something profound in unpacking the intricate formal and emotive attributes entwined within this depiction of "Cavalry Charge at a Burning Mill". The technical finesse of the printmaking method marries with a narrative charge, capturing what it really might have meant at that moment. Editor: Right, that is indeed what strikes me: beneath all the frenzy, a surprising depth emerges. History as art.