Parma belegert Bergen op Zoom, 1588 1600 - 1610

Editor: This is "Parma belegert Bergen op Zoom, 1588" by Bartholomeus Willemsz. Dolendo, made sometime between 1600 and 1610. It’s a drawing, an engraving, and print – a bird's eye view of a city under siege. It looks incredibly detailed and precise, almost like a technical document more than a piece of art. How should we interpret this as an art object? Curator: Well, think about what was deemed worthy of artistic representation at the time. Sieges were significant political and military events, weren't they? This piece visualizes power, specifically Spanish military power during the Dutch Revolt. Consider the role that prints played. They circulated widely, disseminating information and shaping public opinion. So, how does this image contribute to a particular narrative, a particular viewpoint? Editor: So it's propaganda, almost? Trying to portray Parma’s siege as an orderly, inevitable event? I noticed how neat the city layout is, but the battle scenes are also given a lot of visual weight, spread on all sides of the composition. Curator: Precisely! The print presents a controlled perspective. While showing the chaos of battle, it frames that chaos within a vision of organized power and control. Ask yourself who might have commissioned this. What message were they trying to send? Editor: The Spanish, naturally. And given that it's now in the Rijksmuseum, I suppose the Dutch view of the event prevailed. Curator: Exactly. The artwork’s meaning has been resignified through cultural and institutional processes. Its public role now lies in understanding a crucial conflict in early modern Europe. What initially might appear as documentation now stands as an important part of the historical imagination. Editor: It’s fascinating how the same image can serve such different purposes depending on the context. Now I’m considering not just the ‘what’ but also the ‘why’ and ‘for whom’ of its creation.