Landschap met huis aan rivier 1620 - 1695

Editor: So, this engraving, "Landschap met huis aan rivier," or "Landscape with house on a river" by Nicolas Perelle, dating roughly from 1620 to 1695, caught my eye. There’s something so self-contained and storybook about the image enclosed in this ornamented circle. What do you make of it? Curator: It is indeed captivating. It immediately prompts questions about the social function of these landscapes. Were these affordable images for middle-class homes? Did they signify something more than just picturesque scenes? Look at the inscription "Avec privil. du Roy"; this tells us that this was officially sanctioned imagery, which hints at a certain ideological function during the Baroque era. Do you think it portrays an idealized countryside? Editor: I definitely see that idealization. It's so neat and tidy. The bridge, the person leisurely standing... Was there a growing sense of national identity that these landscapes served to promote, something of an idealized "French" countryside perhaps? Curator: Precisely. And it raises a deeper question: For whom was this landscape created? Not peasants, presumably, as their labour isn’t represented here. The privilege, the Baroque aesthetic all indicate consumption by the upper class. Do you think its picturesque qualities might obscure some of the harder social realities of the time? Editor: That makes perfect sense. I was just seeing a pretty picture, but now I am starting to understand how it actively promoted a certain worldview. Thanks, that's given me a lot to think about! Curator: My pleasure, it's always worthwhile examining the public life of these images.