Schepen voor de kust bij Harlingen 1779 - 1785

Editor: This print, "Schepen voor de kust bij Harlingen," created between 1779 and 1785 by Mathias de Sallieth, presents a busy scene of ships near the coast. The chaotic energy makes me wonder what life was like for these people; what's your perspective? Curator: We can see a specific relationship here. What do you notice about the print’s material qualities, its function as a commodity, and how it relates to the labor depicted? Consider the labor involved in the material's creation versus the labor the print depicts, of those working at the coast and sailing. Editor: I hadn't thought about it that way. So the act of creating this print is a type of labor, mirroring the hard work depicted in the scene itself? Curator: Precisely! The act of engraving, a skilled craft, makes it readily reproducible for a growing merchant class. These are Dutch Golden Age themes, showing not just what the world looks like, but how the economic and labor system shaped it. Consider also, the labor necessary to procure these ships, transport goods, maintain the coastline. This image depicts an economy. Editor: So, beyond the aesthetic or narrative, the print highlights a network of production, both in its creation and depiction? I guess the material – this particular kind of printed image – made such dissemination of economic values possible at the time? Curator: Exactly. This relatively accessible print helps solidify a particular worldview tied to maritime commerce, ownership and landscape as property, reflecting and reinforcing these very relationships of power and production. Editor: I never would have thought to view it as less of an image, and more like a… material record of the labor of its time! Thank you for opening my eyes. Curator: The point is to see how deeply intertwined are the seemingly separate processes of art creation, and what it depicts. Both reflect labor relations of its moment.