Links is een bouwsel zichtbaar waaruit rook ontsnapt. Deze is afkomstig van de verwarming door middel van een thermosifon. Enkele Alpenjagers dragen brillen ter voorkoming van sneeuwblindheid. Onderdeel van Topografisch album van Venetië 1881. 1916

This photograph shows a trench heated by thermosiphon, with alpine hunters outside wearing glasses to protect against snow blindness. Henri de Rothschild’s sepia tones establish a mood - kind of earthy, a bit eerie. There's something about the composition that feels precarious. Like, the smoke is obscuring the scene, not revealing it. The texture of the image is rough, like seeing it through old glass, or a memory. It gives everything this ghostly feel, like these men are caught in a moment that’s both here and gone. Look at the way the light catches the edges of the trench. It’s like the whole scene is a stage set, and those men are actors waiting for their cue. The soft focus makes it feel like a dream, or a half-remembered story. It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter’s blurry photographs. A recognition that art is always a kind of echo, never a perfect reflection.