Leggen van de kiel en het oprichten van het steven c. 1700 - 1732

Editor: Here we have "Laying the keel and raising the stem," an engraving by Pieter van den Berge, created sometime between 1700 and 1732. I'm really drawn to how the artist captured such a complex scene – shipbuilding – using only lines. What stands out to you, looking at its formal elements? Curator: Indeed. Observe the composition: the artist uses linear perspective to create depth, guiding our eye from the detailed foreground, with the scaffolding and shipbuilding elements, to the more distant cityscape. Notice how the rising sun, rendered through radiating lines, functions almost as a symbolic focal point. Consider how light and dark is employed. Do you see a pattern? Editor: I see that the lines get lighter towards the horizon. I wonder, what could the contrast between light and shadow mean? Curator: Note how the heavy lines in the foreground emphasize the immediate labor and the construction process. Whereas the light behind it signifies possibilities. Think also of how we view horizontality through the eye? Consider the interplay between these areas and notice how it creates not only the landscape's structure, but also a directional flow which lends it to a specific purpose and destination. This structured approach forces us to acknowledge a definitive statement of being; it declares structure, which has allowed an artist like Van den Berge to generate unique perspectives to deliver an individual’s perspective within such rigid form factors. What does it declare to you? Editor: It makes me consider how an image that appears so simple in its lines can be full of intention. Curator: Precisely. The success lies within it remaining committed to clear definitions; form itself declares clarity, therefore the form’s expression embodies it – nothing more, nothing less.