Utrechtse maskerade van 1851: Germanen, 70 n. Chr. 1851

Editor: Here we have Antonie Johannes Groeneveldt’s "Utrechtse maskerade van 1851: Germanen, 70 n. Chr." from 1851. It’s a lithograph that kind of resembles a pencil sketch. It feels very… illustrative, like something from a history textbook. I am intrigued by all those figures and what they mean. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Ah, yes. I'm immediately drawn to the performative aspect, it feels a bit staged, doesn't it? Think about that Utrecht masquerade. People dressing up, embodying history... but whose history? The artist recreates a scene of "Germans" in 70 AD. And with all those equestrian figures…it has almost a triumphant feeling. It reminds me of those old romanticised notions of history. Almost…childlike in its reenactment. What does that staging say to you, that conscious dressing-up? Editor: It's like they are trying to reconstruct and relive that history somehow. Are they romanticizing the past, imagining a kind of primal glory, maybe even establishing a new mythology? Curator: Exactly! You got it! There's this yearning for an imagined past, a longing for those old roots, even though that vision might not exactly reflect reality. I also think of the rise of nationalism during the 19th century. Do you think there is a relation between those nationalist sentiments and the making of this lithograph? Editor: Hmmm, never thought of it that way. A longing for an "us" in history against all others. And dressing up is an embodiment of that? Thanks, that makes a lot of sense! Curator: I love how art opens up these kinds of historical doors to self-reflection.