Gezicht op de krater van de El Teide op Tenerife 1856

Charles Piazzi Smyth captured this photograph of the crater of El Teide on Tenerife, during an expedition in 1856. Smyth, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, was deeply influenced by his father's work as an admiral and cartographer, and he combined science with a romantic sensibility in his images. Here, the stark, volcanic landscape is presented with an almost sublime reverence, characteristic of the Victorian era's fascination with both scientific discovery and the sublime power of nature. But there's also a sense of imperial ambition inherent in these explorations, an impulse to chart and understand the world from a distinctly European perspective. Smyth's expedition, while framed as scientific, existed within a broader context of colonial expansion. Consider how the act of photographing this landscape, turning it into an object of study, also subtly asserts a kind of dominion over it. It’s a perspective embedded with the complex layers of identity, knowledge, and power.