Berglandschap met drie faunen bij een beek 1850 - 1851

Curator: This is François-Louis Français’ "Mountain Landscape with Three Fauns by a Stream", dating back to 1850-1851. It's an engraving, and it really captures the romantic sensibility of the era, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Instantly! There’s a wistful feeling here, a sense of being both deeply present in nature and somehow fundamentally separate from it. Almost voyeuristic, with these little fauns frolicking in the stream. Curator: Yes! And look at the way Français plays with light and shadow. It’s not just decorative; it helps to create a clear social hierarchy. Editor: Hierarchy? Within a bucolic scene of playing fauns? Curator: Absolutely. Landscape prints became hugely popular as signifiers of wealth, culture and sophisticated tastes in the growing bourgeois society, suggesting leisure time and an appreciation for the sublime. Note the idealized nature presented here—it reflects very specific cultural desires and notions about escaping the industrialized urban world, or even repressing any thoughts of socio-economic struggles and inequities. Editor: That's such an insightful take. And it’s incredible that this world of nymphs and trickling streams has very little to do with real life, and so much to do with projecting ideas. It all appears quite innocent. Do you ever wonder, though, about the stories they whisper? Curator: Always. And the way artists like Français engage with our assumptions of landscape and figure...that's where the magic really lives. This engraving reminds us that even apparent fantasies exist in a societal context. Editor: It does pull you into thinking about more than initially meets the eye; the dark ink pulls away more meaning than what's only at its surface. I’m glad we took some time with it.