Wine Barrels Loaded onto a Sailing Barge at Vevey c. 1850

Editor: So, here we have Johann Jakob Ulrich's "Wine Barrels Loaded onto a Sailing Barge at Vevey," around 1850, a watercolor and pencil drawing. The colors are so muted, almost faded, which really gives a sense of its age. What do you make of this depiction? Curator: This image strikes me as a vital document of 19th-century labor and its material conditions. Ulrich’s attention to the specific types of wood used for the barrels, the dock, and the boat, and the way they’re assembled, offers a window into the skilled craftsmanship that fueled the wine trade. Consider also the pigment—where did Ulrich source his watercolors? What was the social status of those pigments? Editor: That's fascinating! I hadn’t considered the materials themselves as being so significant. So, you're seeing this as more than just a landscape? Curator: Absolutely. The scene depicts the practical matter of transporting wine, which itself is a processed product derived from the land. Ulrich seems to be showing us a segment of a material cycle. Note the figures are minimized; they are part of this system, their labor essential to the cycle. Where do you think the wine ends up? Editor: Presumably in the hands of consumers, further down the chain of production. The city? Somewhere far from the rural setting… This is giving me so much to think about. Curator: Precisely. It’s about connecting the rural, agricultural world with the burgeoning markets. This image reveals a specific moment of that relationship. The simple, almost rustic quality of the materials adds to the sense of a material reality being presented directly to us. Editor: I never considered the "Romanticism" aspect in terms of material flows! Now I’m seeing how art can tell us so much about production, consumption, and labor. Thank you.