Rhine Landscape with Two Boats c. 17th century

Curator: Herman Saftleven’s "Rhine Landscape with Two Boats" immediately makes me think of stillness. The etching is so delicately rendered, it feels like a captured breath. Editor: It’s a fascinating study of 17th-century Dutch investment in waterways as conduits of trade and military power, despite its small scale. Look how the boats dominate the foreground. Curator: Yes, they do feel monumental, looming over the sleepy river. The tiny figures almost blend into the rocky shore. I feel a sense of cozy isolation, don’t you? Editor: Perhaps, but Saftleven also presents a world structured by work and commerce. The mill up there is a little utopian fantasy, sitting so comfortably above the Rhine. Curator: A fantasy, or maybe just a reminder that nature and industry are intrinsically linked? I love how it all seems to tumble together, the river, the rock, the building. It’s all part of the same chaotic harmony. Editor: Chaos carefully composed, I’d say. Saftleven is making a statement about the Dutch mastery of their environment, and how art plays a part in that construction. Curator: That’s a fascinating perspective. It’s a pleasure to look at this with you. Editor: Likewise. It’s a good reminder to see how artworks of the past continue speaking to us.