Fontein in de haven van Gallipoli 1778

Curator: This delicate pencil and watercolor drawing from 1778 is entitled "Fountain in the Port of Gallipoli," created by Louis Ducros, and it resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It feels almost like an architectural rendering. Stark, perhaps even a bit somber, but also quite detailed for a preparatory sketch. All those figures... what are they made of, what's their labor? Curator: Indeed, its architectural character invites us to consider Ducros's neoclassical influences. We can see this expressed through his romantic engagement with antiquity and a precise linear style. But I want to turn back to what you just said. The fountain seems intended to legitimize labor but there is little consideration paid to who is benefiting from said labor. Editor: Right, what's obscured in the celebration is the making of that representation. Whose bodies? Where did this idealized stone come from? Curator: And it's crucial that we consider this in the context of its time. This piece was created during a period of immense social change. It forces a consideration about whose perspectives we take and privilege, and how that shapes both historical record and art. What does it mean to monumentalize Gallipoli in this particular style during that time? How is its history being crafted? Editor: This brings us to how materiality intersects with historical power. What stories do these images exclude through that act of representing them this way? Was Ducros addressing those absences through technique or does the Neoclassicism obscure those material implications further? Curator: Right. Thinking about absence is vital, not only concerning visibility in representation but also with how absences may influence or challenge artistic creation itself. If one is unaware of material consequences then you are equally, ignorant of its impact. The drawing really acts as an anchor. Editor: Absolutely. For me, seeing the drawing forces me to reconcile the ideal and material reality of these classical forms; an interesting contradiction revealed through something as subtle as the material reality of pencil on paper, really revealing Ducros’ engagement in neoclassical politics of material reality and making the drawing still compelling today.