Twee stadsgezichten te Leeuwarden: Waag en Grote Kerk 1786 - 1792

Curator: At first glance, I find these paired cityscapes quite formal and… almost bureaucratic? What’s your initial reaction to this piece? Editor: You’ve zeroed in on a key aspect, I think. What we have here is a print showcasing two views of Leeuwarden: the Weigh House (De Waag) and the Grote Kerk, or Great Church. It comes to us from Carel Frederik Bendorp, dating from about 1786 to 1792. Curator: The parallel placement makes me think of heraldry, almost like a crest for the city itself, and emphasizes a clear duality – commerce in opposition to worship? Editor: Interesting idea. The rise of Neoclassicism at the time absolutely impacted how civic structures and religious architecture were viewed – temples of trade, you might say. But more than that, it suggests the institutions by which communities organize themselves: market exchange regulated in the Waag and the spiritual life grounded in the Church. Note how deliberately people are placed to indicate that function. Curator: So Bendorp gives us people going about daily life at the buildings, and by including those, do you think he elevates the individual even higher than these structures? It gives us almost an intimate portrayal. Editor: Precisely. And consider the medium of the etching: easily reproducible. This allows for the distribution of the image and reinforces civic pride. Here the symbols communicate shared cultural identity—a town displaying itself in an era of shifting nationalisms. But even then, you can read the cultural power in symbols like churches, the cultural role, a shared vision. Curator: You're right. There's definitely a power to the way Bendorp portrays even everyday scenes and builds shared beliefs with architectural places. Seeing these icons alongside one another really puts society, structures, and shared ideas into sharp relief. Editor: And so what first read as "bureaucratic" is actually the careful codification of what constitutes civic life.