Rijngezicht met gedekte schuit c. 1745 - 1785

Curator: Anthonij van der Haer's etching, "Rijngezicht met gedekte schuit", created sometime between 1745 and 1785, pulls us into a hazy Dutch landscape. Editor: Oh, this has a curious, melancholy feel to it. All that detailed hatching gives it a kind of muted stillness. It makes me think of quiet mornings on the water, with the weight of time heavy on the air. Curator: That stillness, I think, comes from Van der Haer’s attention to detail. You can almost feel the weight of the boat and its tarpaulin covering. I can almost smell it, that mix of river water, timber, and oiled cloth. He meticulously details both the craft and also, interestingly, that ruined stone structure beside it. Editor: It’s all about work and ruin. Etching and engraving in those days had to be exacting work, really a slow art, and he is rendering a life made by such demanding, constant actions. The ruin speaks to the impermanence of material achievements. What type of press would Van der Haer have been using here, do you think? Did the rising merchant class of that moment consume such works? Curator: Definitely the printing press was critical. We see similar printing processes enabling broadsides, pamphlets, newspapers. As for the rising merchant class... these genre scenes became really popular for decorating their homes. Small landscapes like this offered a slice of life but elevated by artistic interpretation. I bet his patrons liked spotting details they recognized from their daily lives. Editor: Right! Because those sails way in the background represent trade routes—capital! The workingman in the boat is almost a decorative element; what labor truly costs is subsumed in pretty textures of water, stone, sky. I imagine this would adorn a dark room of mahogany furniture. It’s almost too on the nose! Curator: (chuckles) Well, I think the artist is more subtly engaging here than you suggest, but your interpretation certainly aligns with that material history. Looking closely at how the light touches the scene offers another interpretation. It creates a lovely feeling of transience, almost spiritual. A feeling, that this way of life captured in this small landscape is doomed for inevitable, if slow, transformation. Editor: Agreed! It’s beautiful work to remind viewers of work itself, both as we see it and as something obscured, so long ago.