Ingang tot de haven van Duinkerke, ca. 1693-1694 1806

Editor: So this is “Entrance to the Port of Dunkirk” by Yves Marie Le Gouaz, created around 1693 or 1694, though this print dates to 1806. It's an engraving. I find the image quite serene, actually, despite likely depicting a scene of maritime conflict with boats. What strikes you most when you look at it? Curator: Serene is a fascinating choice, and perhaps insightful because these waterways are serene *now*. When I look, my imagination conjures Dunkirk as the strategic point it was; as a contested space between nations, filled with ambition and military might. The text on the boat's sail jumps out, doesn't it? "The Battles of Jean Bart, Squadron Leader under Louis XIV"... It's almost like the artist is *selling* something rather than purely documenting a place. What kind of story do you think it hints at? Editor: Hmm, I guess that inscription *is* quite bold. It shifts it from being a purely topographical view to a kind of…advertisement for Jean Bart's naval prowess? It's strange to see advertising coexisting with art like this. The landscape feels almost secondary. Curator: Precisely! That's what makes it so intriguing. The "landscape" becomes a backdrop. And in Baroque fashion, it is there to elevate Jean Bart, not necessarily as celebration of a moment of historical fact. In other words, how truthful is the scene itself? Is it literal, or designed to promote Bart? If you were advising the artist at the time, what elements would you want to clarify about what really happened? Editor: Wow, I hadn’t considered the level of deliberate framing within the landscape itself. Now I'm thinking less about geographical accuracy, more about propagandistic intent. And that adds an entirely new, slightly unsettling, layer. Curator: Exactly. Always keep questioning, never take it for granted. After all, isn’t that what art – even historical art – should really make us do?