Afkondiging van de Pacificatie van Gent, 1576 1785 - 1787

Editor: Here we have Jacobus Buys' drawing, "Afkondiging van de Pacificatie van Gent, 1576," created between 1785 and 1787. It's ink on paper, a detailed cityscape scene. The mood seems quite formal, even celebratory. What jumps out to you when you look at it? Curator: What interests me is how this drawing represents not just an event, but a system of power and its communication. Consider the materials – ink and paper, relatively accessible, used to depict a monumental moment intended for wide consumption. How does the availability of these materials shape our understanding of the depicted event? Editor: That's a fascinating angle! I hadn't considered the materiality in relation to accessibility. So, you're saying that the drawing's very existence, its material form, speaks to how this message was intended to be disseminated? Curator: Precisely. And note how Buys employs realism, seemingly a direct visual record. But realism itself is a constructed style, isn’t it? The labor involved in creating this image—the time, skill, and access to materials—raises questions about who commissioned it, who it was intended for, and what message they sought to propagate. What's your take on the role of labor here? Editor: Well, the detail suggests considerable labor. Knowing it’s neoclassical, which often celebrated order and reason, I wonder if the artist aimed to present a specific, perhaps idealized, vision of the historical event that maybe served a political purpose in his own time period. Curator: Exactly. And thinking about the "craft" involved against so called ‘High Art’ – How is the medium used, by Buys, to frame history and culture into something almost consumable. We have to wonder if the event depicted really occurred that way at all! Editor: That’s really changed my perception of the work. I initially just saw a historical scene. Curator: And hopefully now see, what seems to be an ordinary historical scene is really, with labor and the system by which it’s crafted, propaganda.