Overleg tussen edelmannen op een kade, ca. 1560 1850 - 1899

Curator: This print, purportedly titled “Overleg tussen edelmannen op een kade, ca. 1560”, places us amongst a group of noblemen near what appears to be a waterfront scene. The etching was realized sometime between 1850 and 1899 by Edgar Alfred Baes. Editor: There's something arresting about the density of lines – almost suffocating. And the subjects look so stern, locked in intense conversation amidst those looming, skeletal ship masts. The texture is phenomenal though. Curator: Absolutely. Baes masterfully employs hatching and cross-hatching to generate depth and volume, giving the figures a weighty presence. Note how the light catches the ruffs and fabrics, particularly on the central figures, and then diffuses into shadows. What can be decoded, theoretically, are these social dynamics through symbolic interactions within that implied staging of the quayside setting. Editor: The backdrop lends this scene such an important social context. Given it appears to be from a later printing, one could examine the possible reasons behind the late-19th-century market appeal for renditions of such “historical” moments from 16th century civic society and power structures. This is really compelling from that lens! Curator: Precisely, how genre-painting like this creates a tangible form of storytelling from bygone historical narratives! The almost theatrical positioning of the subjects offers an array of formal possibilities in terms of lines and shadow formations. Editor: Agreed. There's such potent, visual dialogue at play with class and context; with that hint of social hierarchy among merchants along a key center point such as that waterfront location. The material composition of the work amplifies that, adding extra textual weight, don’t you think? Curator: Yes, a semiotic construction within both an imagined narrative and material construction of lines, indeed. Editor: So next time you're feeling pensive about socio-economic divisions of history, consider stopping by to view and spend a little bit of time with this dense etching. Curator: I invite any fellow structuralists to spend a bit with Baes’ creation, to understand how formal arrangement within this tableau contributes toward establishing that certain degree of storytelling from history, indeed.