Gezicht op Boedapest met de Sint-Annakerk 1868

Curator: So, what do you think about this "View of Budapest with the St. Anne Church"? It's an 1868 photograph by Charles Gaudin. It’s a stereoscopic print. Editor: Instantly, I’m struck by how orderly everything looks. Not in a sterile way, but in a balanced, pre-planned, almost architectural way. What about you? Curator: Absolutely! Gaudin had an eye. It's considered a romantic cityscape. It makes you ponder what city life might have been back then. Before our lives became as… fractured. The church really pops though. Editor: Churches often act as central focal points in urban iconography. This Saint Anne church speaks of Baroque aesthetics – the dual spires imply an opening to heaven. The curves remind me of embracing arms, very warm. But there is something of a darker element with all those buildings huddling together... Curator: Interesting! It's funny you say "huddling," as they actually feel sort of imposing and separated to me. Editor: The perspective gives it a condensed feel, all elements forced into the frame. Consider how Gaudin uses light. The higher vantage gives a kind of 'God's eye view.' Almost biblical in presentation, yet deeply embedded with culture, don’t you agree? Curator: I can see it! It makes you think of humanity at its most communal and, if I’m being cynical, also at its most susceptible to dogma. That sounds very modern! Editor: The themes, even viewed today, still evoke something lasting from that particular moment in Budapest. It's as though a memory imprints upon a collective consciousness and then it's immortalized in art. Curator: Yeah, now I see what you meant. It feels timeless. Well, that certainly was something.