Gezicht op Sloten 1702 - 1725

Editor: This is "Gezicht op Sloten," a print by Jacob Folkema, dating from 1702 to 1725, housed in the Rijksmuseum. It depicts a view of the city. What immediately strikes me is how much work is represented – the landscape and the figures seem deeply connected to their labor. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see an explicit connection between the representation of Sloten and the labor required to sustain it. The engraving itself, as a mass-reproducible object, speaks to the commercial networks underpinning Dutch society at this time. It uses material means of production to further its societal aims. Editor: Could you elaborate? I mean, it is a beautiful landscape, and one can note how many people are out in the fields with haystacks and cows, or travelling the roadways with their horse. Curator: Precisely! Folkema's choice of engraving is crucial. It's a technique born from industry, designed for duplication and widespread circulation, much like the goods being produced in the scene itself. The print thus embodies the very industry and materiality it depicts. Its value comes from this intricate intertwining of labor and land represented in reproducible material. It shows a clear tie between production and place. Editor: That's a fascinating perspective! So, instead of simply seeing a pretty picture, we can interpret this engraving as an artifact *of* the economic activity of the time? The piece becomes representative of society's method of communicating and distributing its own image through new material practices. Curator: Exactly! By emphasizing the material basis of its production, Folkema offers us not just a picture of Sloten but a glimpse into the engine that drives it – an economy rooted in the land, reproduced, distributed, and therefore consumed. Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way before. I now find it interesting that the city's name is displayed so prominently; as though advertising what is being produced! Thank you.