Plattegrond van het beleg van Charleroi, 1693 1693 - 1696

Curator: Looking at this engraving, I can almost smell the damp paper. Editor: Ah, yes. This is "Plattegrond van het beleg van Charleroi, 1693," or "Map of the Siege of Charleroi, 1693," made somewhere between 1693 and 1696. It is currently held in the Rijksmuseum. An anonymous hand sketched and engraved this impressive Baroque depiction of a city under siege. Curator: Siege maps! A curious blend of strategy and art. It's all lines and angles, isn't it? An architect's dream, or perhaps a general's. The effect, to me, is strikingly detached and almost bloodless, even though you know a siege is anything but. Editor: Exactly. It’s a choreography of calculated space. Notice how the fortifications—that central star fort—dominate the composition, radiating control and projecting power outwards. Every line serves a function; directing our gaze while detailing strategic advantage. Semiotics of domination, wouldn’t you say? Curator: I’d say. Though, look how small everything else is compared to the fortress—the natural world almost ignored, reduced to mere backdrop. Made me wonder what it felt like to live outside of the geometry, on the softer edges of that unfolding plan, during all this… drama. Did they feel completely powerless against these fortifications and these wars, all meticulously drawn with pen and ink? Editor: Possibly. There's certainly a coldness, but in its rigorous documentation, one might discover respect or even a muted form of beauty. What are your closing thoughts? Curator: For me, the real impact here is less about battles won or lost, but about a fragile attempt at a visual conquest. Editor: Yes, the cold precision—capturing ephemera of war.