Gezicht op de stad Leith 1753

Curator: Isn't this "View of Leith from the East Road," dating back to 1753, just marvelous? It's a print made with engraving and watercolor by Robert Sayer, now residing here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It's remarkably serene! The colours are so gentle. It almost feels like a memory fading into a watercolour dream. Curator: I think you've nailed the ethereal quality! Looking at this, I am interested in unpacking how landscape art historically functioned as a tool for social stratification and control. Notice the coach on the road in the left foreground and the cluster of figures on the right. Editor: Ah, good eye. Those figures look as though they are engaged in field labour; in sharp contrast to the passengers in the horse-drawn coach, likely well-to-do folk. Curator: Exactly. Sayer subtly encodes the stark realities of 18th-century class divisions within this seemingly picturesque scene. The picturesque often masks inequity and hardship. It's all very intentional in my mind. The placement of the ship at the distance and to the far-right serves to reify the importance of commerce to British life. Editor: I agree it would be naïve to assume that this scene exists separate of Sayer’s or even Britain's grand ambitions as the nation engaged in imperial endeavors. But at the same time, there's a undeniable appeal to the image’s colour palette and how softly the light falls across the work, it brings a very strong and gentle presence to the scene depicted here. Curator: Indeed. Perhaps it's precisely that contrast, between aesthetic appeal and social critique, that makes it so compelling even centuries later. Editor: Right! I came in prepared to be calmed by it, but I'm leaving thinking about power, land ownership, and class conflict. How marvelous!