Detail van het interieur van de San Marco in Venetië before 1885

Editor: Here we have "Detail van het interieur van de San Marco in Venetië," a gelatin-silver print by Carl Heinrich Jacobi, created before 1885. The image has a certain faded, ethereal quality. It almost feels like a memory, seen through time. What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: That’s beautifully put! It *does* feel like a fading echo, doesn’t it? For me, it’s the geometry. Look at how Jacobi captured the ornate carvings of the San Marco. Those repeated patterns, those quatrefoils… they’re almost hypnotic. Makes me wonder what it was like to stand there, in that basilica, over a century ago. What stories those walls could tell. Do you sense that stillness? Editor: Definitely, it feels suspended, timeless. The composition is so balanced and symmetrical, and yet, the aged quality softens that rigidity, if that makes sense. It looks so incredibly old! Curator: Precisely! The light enhances this. It’s diffuse, almost dreamlike. Photography, especially back then, was about capturing a tangible truth. But Jacobi seems to be reaching for something more… a mood, a feeling. The impermanence of the moment. Editor: So it's less about objective recording and more about… expressing a feeling? Curator: I’d say so. Perhaps he felt the weight of history, the generations of faith embedded in that space. Or maybe, just maybe, he was struck by the sheer beauty and wanted to capture something that transcends the documentary. What feeling did *you* experience looking at this piece? Editor: It feels serene but maybe there is also some decay - time’s passage made visible. It's definitely more profound now knowing Jacobi's possible motivations. Thanks. Curator: And thank you! It’s seeing art through fresh eyes that keeps it alive, don’t you think?