Jager in een landschap 1841

Curator: This etching by Hendrik Jozef Franciscus van der Poorten, dating back to 1841, is titled “Hunter in a Landscape.” Editor: My initial reaction is a sense of quiet solitude. There's a starkness to the landscape, but also a certain gentleness in the light, or what passes for it in black and white. Curator: Exactly, this piece, belonging to the Realism art movement, depicts a scene that invites reflection on nature and its relationship with humanity, but this relationship is really mediated by power and economics, if we stop and consider what it means to depict hunting as part of the Realist genre in the 19th Century. Editor: I hadn’t thought about the power dynamic but now that you mention it…It does raise questions about our impact on the natural world, doesn't it? Look how the tiny human figure walks along casually with his dog and rifle. Curator: The location in Rijksmuseum emphasizes how hunting had its golden age through the 17th Century into this image's period. Van der Poorten presents an intriguing image. It invites us to reflect on the political economies associated with it through social and artistic practices, such as this very display in the museum. Editor: It really does. I appreciate the way that just a few skillfully placed lines conjure such a vivid sense of atmosphere and evoke that nostalgic longing for something simpler than modernity, for a lifestyle the vast majority of people at the time would never know. Curator: A longing that romanticizes hunting as part of the bucolic idyll. I'd add that such images played a critical role in circulating national ideas, such as images of rural England for its elites or Germany's romanticization of its forests. This piece might also express a Dutch bourgeois sensibility. Editor: I think you're right to tie the image back to something bigger than mere depiction of nature, the human role is so subdued as if this scene speaks about more than just this little hunter and dog. Thanks for shifting my gaze! Curator: It’s a pleasure. Sometimes looking back can help us see the present with new eyes.