Zicht op de Barberine-waterval bij Vallorcine 1859

Eugène Cicéri made this lithograph titled 'View of the Barberine Waterfall near Vallorcine' in France. It's difficult to date the image, but we can assume it was made sometime in the mid-nineteenth century. This was a time when artists and writers were looking to nature to find sublime experiences and spiritual truths. Looking at the image, we see the visual codes of Romanticism. It's a celebration of untamed nature, but it also hints at the commercialization of landscape imagery that was happening at the time, with artists and publishers selling prints like this to a growing middle-class market. The rise of tourism in the Swiss Alps also had a strong influence. To really understand the image, we might dig into period guidebooks, travelogues, and the illustrated press. These resources can tell us a lot about the changing relationship between art, commerce, and the public's fascination with the natural world.