Tongersepoort te Maastricht 1830 - 1899

Curator: This etching, "Tongersepoort te Maastricht," by Alexander Schaepkens, created sometime between 1830 and 1899, draws us into a 19th-century cityscape. Editor: It feels strangely lonely despite the figures. All that brick and stone pressing in… creates an oppressive atmosphere, almost a melancholic silence despite the bustling street life that I can barely make out! Curator: Absolutely, and consider the formal aspects: The imposing archway dominates, dwarfing the figures below. This semiotic interplay immediately introduces power and vulnerability. It plays into romantic ideas about man within nature, yes? The very structure, the gateway itself, represents both enclosure and escape. Editor: The contrast between light and shadow also plays a role here. That small square of light far in the distance beckons but seems unattainable. I think it symbolizes the potential of the modern age juxtaposed with this decaying urbanity of Maastricht! Do you agree it's slightly dystopian in a way? Curator: Oh, intriguing! One might indeed argue for a dystopian undercurrent. Certainly, Schaepkens is playing with spatial relationships and with the viewers expectations within those romantic and realist styles we often associate with the work. The etching is very clearly detailed. I see in the foreground commoners moving with urgency towards or from this archway. The formal construction almost demands interpretation from multiple vantage points! Editor: It makes me think about the threshold – literally the Tongersepoort, but also that in-between space separating us, here and now, from Schaepkens’ era and those walking that very street at that time! A meditation of sorts, an almost photographic instant trapped in ink. Curator: Yes, like so many views offered in the Rijksmuseum collection it’s one to pause by a bit longer I think and appreciate! Editor: Indeed, one little doorway into many possible other places!