Hortus Palatinus 1620

Editor: Here we have Salomon de Caus’s “Hortus Palatinus,” a drawing and engraving from 1620, held at the Met. It depicts, it seems, garden machinery. The meticulousness of the engraving gives it almost a technical drawing feel, and the detail devoted to the machinery in contrast with the pastoral background, especially, really grabs me. What’s your take on this engraving? Curator: It’s compelling when considered as a material object itself. The print, multiplied and disseminated, speaks to the circulation of ideas about engineering and spectacle in the 17th century. Look at the depicted waterworks; these weren't just aesthetic flourishes. They were labor-intensive, resource-dependent feats of engineering. Editor: Right, so it’s not just the final beautiful garden, but all the human input to create and maintain it? Curator: Precisely. The engraving highlights the process, the labor, even the materials required to realize this aristocratic fantasy. The wood, the metal, the water – all components brought together through human intervention. Consider the engraver’s own labor too! The precision, the time involved in translating the design. Editor: So, in looking at this print, it brings to light the, sometimes unseen or unacknowledged, materials that go into such ambitious garden designs? Curator: Exactly! It pushes us to think beyond the aesthetic surface and consider the underlying systems of production and consumption. In a sense, the print itself is a material manifestation of that very system. Editor: Wow, that is a fascinating approach. I had only considered the visual element initially. I didn’t even think about how it comments on resources like lumber and water, or even the labour put in by the engraver. Thanks for widening my perspective. Curator: My pleasure. Seeing art through its material reality allows us a fuller understanding of its cultural significance.