Gezicht op Orléans 1575 - 1657

Curator: Here we have "Gezicht op Orléans," a cityscape held in the Rijksmuseum collection and made sometime between 1575 and 1657 by an anonymous artist. Editor: It’s unexpectedly gentle. The soft washes of color—pale blues, pinks, and greens—create a dreamy atmosphere over this otherwise rigidly ordered composition. Curator: It certainly presents a sanitized view, doesn't it? Orléans likely suffered during the Wars of Religion during the period in question. This print omits signs of civic unrest and strife to instead display a harmonious relationship between people, commerce, and nature. Editor: True, the etching itself has a crispness of line, but those colors... they counteract any sense of stark reality. The framing lines in ochre and red are precise and visually self-contained; the print seems to declare itself an object for contemplation rather than a mirror to everyday experience. I notice it also uses a slightly elevated point of view in order to capture everything that the town has to offer, the sky that opens it to possibility. Curator: Which contributes to its social function, doesn’t it? Images of cities offered a sense of civic pride, broadcasting its prosperity to a wider audience at a time when maps and city views were increasingly popular among the rising merchant class. The figures placed in the foreground are particularly interesting too. I wonder if we can see some hint of contemporary fashion that speaks to class aspirations? Editor: Perhaps, but even they seem softened by the watercolour, blending into the idyllic setting as components in the larger pictorial design. Despite their dress, the figures almost look like staffage elements which add interest to a view, or scale indicators that also create depth. Curator: Perhaps it is in the service of a rising societal preference for the pastoral. Still, considering the artist's anonymity, these types of images offer insight into the lives of ordinary people and the era's social climate through a lens of hope, and progress. Editor: Well, regardless, I appreciate how the artist created a structured yet dreamlike experience through colour and controlled lines.