Paarden met ruiters springen over een muur before 1899

Curator: An interesting photographic print we have here from before 1899, entitled "Paarden met ruiters springen over een muur", which translates to "Horses with Riders Jumping over a Wall," held at the Rijksmuseum and attributed to an anonymous creator. Editor: My initial reaction is one of controlled chaos, a very regimented dynamism! The way the riders are spaced apart, yet leaping in unison—it speaks volumes about discipline, not just horsemanship. But I wonder about the physical endurance...what kind of pressures went into crafting this image? Curator: I see it too! The academic approach here gives an impression of romanticising power, and perhaps masking the very physical and manufactured effort involved in training animals, making clothes, organising photographic material, producing the image… Editor: Right, let's talk materiality! The print itself... probably mass-produced, think about the processes needed, paper pulp from trees, a mechanical press driving out identical image after image, a clear link to mass consumption and maybe even a way to influence public perception! Is this documentary or propaganda, even? Curator: Maybe a bit of both, especially thinking about photography as a relatively new medium then, being used to depict and arguably construct specific ideas of spectacle, and achievement. One wonders about its distribution; was it purely for amusement, or perhaps circulated among military circles? Editor: The "anonymous" credit says a lot, actually. Think of all the unseen labour in this picture - not only the horse-training itself but developing, printing, all the hands making copies… their contributions almost completely erased! We’re left only with a stark and romanticized image of action… a wall conquered. Curator: That makes one really wonder if, maybe unconsciously, it touches on a broader commentary about control. Anonymous labour producing propaganda representing discipline... fascinating! Editor: Absolutely, like layers peeled back—it turns into something far less triumphant. A testament to all things hidden beneath a powerful spectacle, so typical of that era! I wonder what is printed on the next page! Curator: True! So let us continue unraveling, or perhaps, appreciating, our shared ability to decode further.