Gezicht op de Houses of Parliament, te Londen 1870 - 1885

This print presents the Houses of Parliament in London, rendered anonymously through engraving. Engraving is an intriguing process. A design is incised into a hard material, like metal, and then ink is applied to the grooves to create an image. It demands meticulous labor, with each line carefully cut. The fineness of line in this work speaks to the engraver’s skill and the time invested. The image itself reinforces a social hierarchy. In the foreground, we see figures of leisure, carriages, and horses, all signs of affluence and social standing. In the background looms the impressive edifice of Parliament, a symbol of governance and power. The print suggests an order of society – those who govern, and those who enjoy the fruits of that governance. Ultimately, the print’s value lies not just in its aesthetic qualities, but in the insights it offers into the social and economic realities of its time, and of the labor that created it. It challenges us to consider how materials and processes, in this case engraving, intersect with broader narratives of class, labor, and power.