Gezicht op Kasteel Caestert en de sluis van Klein-Ternaaien in het kanaal Luik-Maastricht nabij de Nederlandse grens 1880 - 1900

Théodor Weijnen made this albumen print, titled "View of Caestert Castle and the Klein-Ternaaien lock on the Liège-Maastricht canal near the Dutch border" sometime in the late 19th century. Here we see a deliberately picturesque scene of the Netherlands, one which participates in a broader cultural phenomenon that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. As cities grew, so did a new kind of tourism that was interested in the rural and pre-industrial past. Here, Weijnen directs our eyes to a lock on a canal, a medieval castle in the distance, and villagers gathered by the water. It’s worth noting that this image was made in Maastricht, a city with a rich institutional history. The city was the site of key political negotiations, such as the 1673 Treaty of Maastricht between France and the Dutch Republic, and the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which established the European Union. The artist may have intended to remind viewers of the Netherlands' complex relationship to its neighbors, as well as the social and economic transformations that were reshaping the country in the late 19th century.