Burgemeester Lancelot van Ursel geeft schepen Cornelis van Spangen het bevel over de burgerwacht after 1863

Editor: So, this is "Burgemeester Lancelot van Ursel geeft schepen Cornelis van Spangen het bevel over de burgerwacht", made after 1863 by Jean Baptiste Pierre Michiels. It's currently held in the Rijksmuseum. It looks to me like a really detailed print, maybe an engraving? There’s such a crowd of people, it’s almost chaotic. What strikes you most when you look at this scene? Curator: Oh, the delicious drama, right? This print... it sings of civic pride and perhaps a dash of impending doom. Think of it less as a photograph of a historical event, and more as a theatrical performance, carefully staged to evoke a specific feeling. The use of line, the cross-hatching to build up the dark areas - Michiels is really playing with light and shadow to direct our eye. He wants us to focus on the solemnity of the moment. Are these really preparations for the defense of the city? Is there an implied sense of threat in those pikes and armour? What feelings do those armaments arouse? Editor: It makes me wonder what they’re actually preparing for… a siege? Curator: Perhaps! Or maybe just a parade, or an overabundance of civic paranoia! This isn't straightforward realism; it's realism with a romantic flair, a touch of historical idealisation thrown in for good measure. It reminds me, these 19th century artists so loved re-imagining the Middle Ages, they made it darker and moodier, almost goth in their obsessions. You get a real sense that for them the past was a bit of an epic drama. Editor: That’s so true, a carefully constructed sense of drama! I hadn’t considered that. Thanks for pointing that out. Curator: My pleasure. It's always fascinating to look through the lens of one era and how it distorts another. A lot like how we probably see it now. It’s all one big echo chamber!