Gezicht op het gebouw van de Hoge Raad aan het Plein in Den Haag 1860 - 1885

Curator: Pieter Oosterhuis created this gelatin-silver print, titled "View of the Supreme Court Building on the Plein in The Hague," sometime between 1860 and 1885. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It's stark, isn’t it? Very frontal, symmetrical. The monochrome adds a gravity to the already imposing architecture. Curator: Absolutely. It evokes the seriousness associated with institutions of justice. Oosterhuis’ work emerged in an era defined by positivism and legalism; the very principles which gave shape to the creation of many buildings. Editor: One almost gets a sense of the brick and mortar; how it was made… the work of building such a grand building. I think what I'm drawn to is the human scale – see the figure there, almost an afterthought? A sign of labor, maybe a passerby? It subtly implies all of the material and people behind the monumentality of this court. Curator: It could also suggest that the individual is subject to the system of law contained within those walls. Consider Foucault's writings on power and surveillance; the court as panopticon. Editor: Or perhaps a photographic monument to legal infrastructure and state power? It feels so constructed, not organic… but that could also reflect an era where new industrial methods changed building design and speed, allowing greater monumental projects of the law and order apparatus. Curator: That makes sense; considering its status in relationship to broader notions of urban planning at the time. How these photographic practices reflect and enforce social orders. Editor: This image gives us insight into the relationship between technological advancements in materials and labor; and new manifestations of legal and political authority. It really underscores the physical creation, brick by brick, of these types of institutions, and their social place as monumental architecture. Curator: This exploration underscores the enduring impact that legal systems can exert on shaping both landscapes and individual lives. Editor: Precisely!