Gezicht op Valencia before 1897

This photograph of Valencia was taken by Antoni Esplugas, sometime between 1852 and 1929. It presents a panoramic view dominated by the city's architecture, with towers rising amidst a dense network of buildings. The sepia tone gives the scene a uniform appearance. Esplugas uses high vantage point to compress the urban landscape into a tapestry of forms. The composition employs two towers as vertical anchors. The perspective flattens the space, challenging traditional pictorial depth. The towers disrupt any comfortable vanishing point. The formal qualities here invite us to consider how photography reconfigures our perception of space and urban environments. The photograph destabilizes conventional notions of perspective, offering instead a structural composition that emphasizes pattern. The photograph serves less as a transparent window onto the world and more as a constructed image. It prompts viewers to question how visual representations shape our understanding of cities, culture, and history.