Met bomen begroeid berglandschap, met een muurtje daarvoor c. 1860 - 1880

Editor: Here we have Achille Quinet's "Mountainous landscape overgrown with trees, with a wall in front," a photomontage created sometime between 1860 and 1880. It's held in the Rijksmuseum collection. The tones give it a hazy, dreamlike quality. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's fascinating to consider how landscape photography in this period can both reflect and shape our understanding of nature. How might the act of framing and composing a scene—like this mountain view—reflect not just aesthetic preferences but also social and political values of the time? This work also strikes me as hinting at environmental concerns—what impact did the rise of industrialism and the burgeoning railway system have on land usage? Editor: That’s a compelling point about framing. I hadn’t considered how “framing” a landscape is more than just an artistic choice. Were photographs like this sometimes used to justify land development? Curator: Precisely! Landscape photography wasn't always innocent. It was a tool, subtly promoting ideas about ownership and progress. Does this piece spark ideas for you in terms of modern political statements about landscape today, whether intentional or not? Editor: It definitely makes me think about how landscape photography is used now, in everything from tourism ads to environmental campaigns. The inherent bias in the photograph seems much more obvious now, and worth analyzing. Curator: Agreed. It urges us to critically examine how we consume these images and whose interests they ultimately serve.