Stadsmuur te Zwolle langs het Zwarte Water, nabij de Diezerbuitenpoort c. 1631 - 1633

Curator: Here we have a drawing, in pen and ink, by Gerard ter Borch the Younger. It's entitled "Stadsmuur te Zwolle langs het Zwarte Water, nabij de Diezerbuitenpoort," which translates to "City Wall of Zwolle along the Zwarte Water, near the Outer Dieze Gate," dating from around 1631-1633. Editor: My initial thought is: a perfectly imperfect little sketch. There’s an endearing directness, like finding a crumpled note left by someone with far more important things to consider than a beautifully finished artwork. Curator: I’m immediately drawn to the texture and the sheer amount of labor invested, thinking about the materiality of this defensive wall. Ter Borch carefully renders the wooden beams, plank by plank; a tangible reminder of the massive amount of physical resources involved in its construction. It truly highlights the significance of material accumulation within growing urban spaces. Editor: I love how you bring in that sense of weight. I think I initially saw it as something quite light, fleeting even, but it definitely captures this impressive feat of engineering using such delicate marks. It almost transforms this feat of engineering into a gentle reflection, perhaps alluding to transience... even for stone walls. The artist transforms something formidable into something intimate, a private moment with the city. Curator: I find that tension fascinating because, in looking at this material archive captured with pen and paper, the sketch invites us to contemplate the social dynamics, the tradesmen who crafted these formidable walls. They had lives, families, skills… all interwoven. The ink is simply one more medium documenting those contributions to city infrastructure. Editor: Indeed, and yet that distance, captured so intimately in his drawing, also offers the possibility for more creative or personal interpretation. The wall is still very present, very solid. In a similar sense, Ter Borch gives me a bit more breathing space, an imaginative leap...almost as if he anticipated the modern viewer centuries in the future, lost in his world for a fleeting instant. Curator: Ultimately, for me, that sketch functions almost like a document of building production, reflecting broader changes within society via the development and protection of Zwolle. Editor: For me it's a perfect memento. A small piece with incredible force and the strange magic that emerges from intimate looking, making time stand still in one’s own present.