Winterlandschap met huizen en toren 1673 - 1695

Editor: So, this is Nicolas Perelle’s "Winterlandschap met huizen en toren," an etching made sometime between 1673 and 1695. The detail achieved with the etching technique is fascinating, capturing this bleak, wintry scene. What draws your attention when you look at this work? Curator: I’m immediately drawn to the labor involved. Think about the time, the skill, required to produce the matrix, and the multiples therefrom. The lines aren't just descriptive; they're evidence of a material process, of craft transformed into reproducible images. The print as a medium allowed landscapes like this to circulate more widely, becoming a commodity, a view to be owned and consumed. Do you think this mass production changed how people experienced these wintry landscapes? Editor: That’s interesting, I hadn't considered that angle. I was more focused on the way the scene pulls you into its space, through a pathway in the middle, past trees and figures towards buildings at the back of the image, while at the same time remaining a 2-d printed thing. What kind of "material politics" do you see embedded in the subject matter of this work? Curator: The scene itself idealizes a sort of rural, laboring class, while simultaneously showcasing property – those houses, the suggestion of ownership over the land. It's carefully constructed imagery feeding into larger power dynamics and a material hierarchy. We can admire the craft of the etching while also analyzing its participation in a system where the labor of some becomes the aesthetic pleasure of others. Look how regular these hatchmarks are, these lines… it may have been piecework to churn these prints out efficiently. Editor: I see your point, about the commercial aspect; that these landscape views are commodities almost more so than works of art. Thinking about the actual etching process itself gives me a whole new angle on it. Thank you. Curator: Indeed, by attending to the material means of its production we understand the multiple social meanings in an artwork like this.