Industria bijgestaan door Kennis, Waarheid en Tijd 1716 - 1761

Editor: We’re looking at "Industria bijgestaan door Kennis, Waarheid en Tijd," or "Industry Aided by Knowledge, Truth and Time," an engraving by Pieter Tanjé, dating from the mid-18th century. It's overflowing with figures – a whole swirling cloud of them, actually. What do you make of it all? Curator: Ah, Pieter Tanjé! A real weaver of allegories. What I see is essentially an aspirational PR piece, dripping in the visual rhetoric of its time. Industria, our industrious woman, is quite literally being propped up by knowledge, truth, and time itself – that winged elder struggling to stay awake is time – while being offered natural treasures. It’s all bathed in enlightenment, isn’t it? Pure theatre! Editor: Enlightenment, yes! All that light! And figures emerging from darkness! But... theatre can be a bit of smoke and mirrors, don’t you think? What's industry *actually* getting away with, depicted this way? Curator: Precisely the question to ask! Isn't it fascinating how effectively beauty camouflages intent? The piece celebrates industry as a beacon of progress, of human triumph, without perhaps fully acknowledging the price such progress extracts from the very world it seeks to dominate. Or worse still – actively ignoring it. It’s about as subtle as a marching band. Look at the ships on the water… it celebrates trade. Editor: That’s so true; you don’t see any smokestacks, just idyllic settings, almost like advertisements. All in service of creating a persuasive image, like you mentioned! It certainly gives you pause to consider how art reflects - and also shapes - the values of its time. Thanks, I have learnt a lot! Curator: Absolutely! Every artistic flourish serves its purpose. This elaborate engraving, though beautiful, is definitely selling a particular vision. So important to peel back those layers and ask what stories remain untold.