Gezicht op Bingen 1610 - 1628

Editor: This drawing, "Gezicht op Bingen," made sometime between 1610 and 1628 by Gerard van der Horst, is rendered simply with pencil. It depicts a cityscape across water. I find its restraint calming. What do you see in this piece, from your perspective? Curator: For me, this isn't just a cityscape; it’s a whispered invitation to another time. See how the faint pencil strokes almost evaporate, creating a sense of ephemeral memory? Imagine the artist, perhaps sitting on that very bank, capturing the light on the water. There’s a dreaminess to it, wouldn’t you agree? And look at the barest hint of activity... a suggestion of human life... do you wonder what their stories are? Editor: I do. I notice, now that you point it out, that very faint figure at the left of the drawing near a house and wonder if they noticed the artist at all. Is that something artists often considered, being seen? Curator: That’s a brilliant question. During the Dutch Golden Age, there was a real shift toward depicting everyday life, so van der Horst likely intended to show Bingen not just as a city but as a living place, full of people just like that one figure, all with somewhere to be. Maybe being observed became part of their world, the way it is for us now. It's something I can only imagine. I suppose that's art, after all: inviting us to use our imaginations to reconstruct stories in an imagined past, from the silent clues and ghosts contained within this pale drawing. Editor: I see the stories you mean. I hadn’t thought about that aspect before – that these images, even sketches, aimed to portray life as it was being lived, which would, necessarily, involve including observation. Curator: And perhaps observed whilst daydreaming about their stories and their lives, from a respectful distance, just like us now.