Landschap met boot op water 1847 - 1865

Editor: So, this is "Landscape with boat on water", an etching by Adolf Carel Nunnink, made sometime between 1847 and 1865. It’s held here at the Rijksmuseum. The greyscale and meticulous detail make me feel like I’m looking at a photograph… almost dreamlike. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, I’m so glad you felt the dreaminess! It's interesting, isn't it, how an artist working so long ago, before photography was truly widespread, anticipated its effects. Nunnink, he seems to be reaching for that precise sort of fidelity. Note the detailed etching in the foliage. Can’t you almost hear the rustle of leaves, feel the damp air coming off the water? But for me, this print also feels imbued with a distinct kind of quiet, melancholic… intimacy? Editor: Melancholic, yes, I get that. Intimacy too, with that tiny boat and the people…It almost feels like intruding on a private moment. The figures are tiny compared to the landscape though. Curator: They are, aren't they? Reduced in scale. It is an interesting choice. As though Nunnink wants to underscore how small we are compared to the vastness and permanence of nature itself. Perhaps even inviting us to consider the ephemeral nature of human experience? I feel the weight of nature's clock in this work. It's really remarkable for a print. Editor: The ‘weight of nature's clock’ - that’s beautifully put. I’ll have to remember that. So, what initially struck me as a simple, almost photographic scene now has so much more depth and a touch of sadness. Curator: Exactly! And isn’t that the delicious thing about art? It whispers, suggests, reveals itself slowly. Thank you for helping me explore it again.