Gezicht op een veld van de École Nationale Superieure d'Horticulture in Versailles, Frankrijk before 1900

This anonymous photograph captures a field at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Horticulture in Versailles, France. While the artist remains unknown, the image opens a window into the late 19th or early 20th century, a period defined by industrialization and shifting social hierarchies. The École Nationale Supérieure d'Horticulture was founded in 1874, which reflects an era of evolving agricultural practices and scientific advancements. The photograph depicts a structured field, possibly used for cultivation and experimentation. What labor practices are being enacted here, and who is performing that labor? This image invites us to consider the labor that sustains sites of leisure and learning. It invites reflection on the relationship between knowledge, labor, and land. The symmetry of the layout contrasts with the unregimented growth of the crops, a metaphor for the tensions between control and nature. What does it mean to cultivate nature in close proximity to seats of power?