Gezicht op een stadspoort 1838 - 1839

Paulus Lauters made this cityscape using graphite and possibly some India ink to give it tonal variation. Though a drawing, the artist takes as his subject a built structure, a city gate, and we should consider the amount of labor involved in such an endeavor. Each block of stone would have been quarried, transported, and then carefully placed by a skilled stonemason to create a stable structure. We see the effects of time in the weathering and wear of the stones, in the plants that have taken root in the structure, and in the way that it has become integrated into the life of the town. Lauters’s choice of subject speaks to the social and historical context in which he was working. The gate is an emblem of civic power, and the integration of nature into the architecture is suggestive of the Romantic movement’s focus on the sublime. Looking at this artwork, we can appreciate not only Lauters’s skill as a draughtsman but also the labor and skill that went into the gate itself, and the social and historical forces that shaped its construction.