Landschap met waterval en vissers en andere figuren 1739 - 1740

Curator: This etching, created by Giuliano Giampiccoli around 1739-1740, is titled "Landscape with Waterfall and Fishermen and Other Figures." The piece currently resides here at the Rijksmuseum. What strikes you most upon seeing it? Editor: It’s quite detailed. All those tiny etched lines... I am thinking of the amount of labour, of repetitive, careful work to represent the rocks and all these tiny figures so delicately. Curator: The etching technique really lends itself to the symbolic, don't you think? Waterfalls often represent renewal, the cyclical nature of life… And landscape as a metaphor for the internal landscape of the human soul… Do you see those at play here? Editor: Well, beyond any intended symbolism, the landscape itself – this reproduction – speaks of human interaction with the natural world. You have figures actively fishing. It reminds us that even in a seemingly serene setting, resources are extracted. There’s that labour element again. Curator: I see what you mean. Yet, look how diminutive those fishing figures appear compared to the grandeur of the waterfall and rocks, there may also be a contrast that sets Nature as a dominating superior power that contrasts to daily activity and resources extraction... Also the Baroque loved the artificial nature settings to impose power.. Editor: I concede there's a designed hierarchy; the massive waterfall overshadowing everyone. Consider though the perspective... is the focus really the sublime, powerful waterfall? Or the figures carefully staged around? I'm thinking about who this was made for and why.. probably not your everyday fisherman. Curator: No, the consumption of prints was indeed for a more educated viewership... I wonder if the appeal back then was the sublime and picturesque quality, the visual drama—the waterfall’s cascade as a powerful memento mori— more aligned with baroque art rather than social commentary about labor… Editor: Perhaps it is in the dialogue between sublime landscape and depicted labor that the interest resides, and which gives value and tension to Giampiccoli's landscapes in today’s art circuit and market. It becomes something that challenges how we traditionally viewed high art, or something to rethink based on context. Curator: Very insightful!