Inname van Calais door Albrecht, 1596 1596 - 1598

Curator: Here we have "The Capture of Calais by Archduke Albrecht," an engraving crafted between 1596 and 1598 by Frans Hogenberg. Editor: It’s remarkable how much detail he crams in; I mean, my initial impression is a swarm, a teeming little world caught in monochrome. A visual shout, I suppose, proclaiming "Here be events!". It looks almost like the plans for some incredibly complex clockwork toy fort that never quite got built. Curator: Yes, the density is noteworthy. It is evident Hogenberg sought to document comprehensively the siege. Consider the elevated perspective, mimicking a bird’s eye view: the etcher prioritizes legibility and comprehensive overview. Semiotically, this choice speaks volumes about the desired reception of the artwork; there is less attempt at romanticizing the violence, and more to deliver a didactic view, a document of the unfolding campaign. Editor: Do you think so? I see a bit more than pure reportage. All the tiny boats bobbing out at sea almost give it a festive air— like spectators at some morbid regatta. I find myself almost distanced from any possible true grimness by the artifice, this charming little box crammed full with the clamor of conquest. The eye flits from detail to detail. The lines are surprisingly loose and lively despite the static viewpoint. It feels less about pure chronicling than imbuing this moment with weight and making an event into history, and then packaging and shipping it off to the future, Curator: You raise a valuable point about imbuing weight. Formally, the very technique of engraving contributes to that sense of historical gravity. The precision, the deliberate lines etched into metal, it's a stark declaration of permanence. This stands in stark contrast to the ephemerality of the event it portrays. And notice, despite the overall flatness, Hogenberg manipulates hatching and line weight to create the illusion of depth. There’s a concerted effort to transcend the limitations of the medium. Editor: Precisely! While it does depict an actual siege and the reality it entails, it paradoxically renders the scene theatrical and safely contained, almost like figures arranged on a cake in an overly elaborate centerpiece. Funny that this work preserves that moment but also shields us from its reality behind layers of skillful fabrication and miniature recreation. I'm just really struck at how charming the brutality here appears to be, somehow. Curator: It offers then, an interesting meditation on how information and perspective modulate experience itself. Editor: So it does.