Gezicht op het Rokin te Amsterdam, gezien richting de Beurs van Hendrik de Keyser 1760 - 1783

Curator: This print presents a vista of the Rokin in Amsterdam, leading the eye towards the Exchange building by Hendrick de Keyser. Hendrik Spilman likely created this etching sometime between 1760 and 1783. What's your initial feeling gazing upon this scene? Editor: A tranquil stillness. It’s a city, buzzing with implied activity, but captured in a paused breath. All the lines seem to flow into each other like memory, creating this dreamy ambiance... Curator: That’s a perceptive reading. The artist’s chosen etching medium lends itself to this almost hazy effect, certainly different to a vibrant canvas. It’s realism, but imbued with something more fluid. Notice the almost geometric buildings on the left. To me they give an essence of establishment that fades gradually as the scene unfolds, but what could it mean? Editor: Indeed, look how that solid geometry softens as we go. For me the repetition of shapes—those gabled roofs mirroring the cloud formations—speaks to the interconnection of the man-made and the natural world. A visual echo of a societal balance, perhaps? Curator: Interesting. I’m intrigued by the activity Spilman chose to include. Little details like the chickens in the foreground or the figures strolling by are certainly very telling, or even the boat drifting under the bridge. Editor: Yes! The small boat cuts a lone figure across the waters, doesn't it? Like a tiny Charon navigating the underworld – this is an evocation of transitions, of movement from one state to another – the personal amidst the clamor. The bridge furthers the sense of going from one space to another as it extends. Curator: The detail, for something seemingly straightforward, is amazing, don’t you think? One almost gets the feeling that with one simple line he created something of wonder. Editor: Yes. These almost dreamlike strokes create something nostalgic but ever-present, an archive in lines. Now it’s up to us to unravel it!